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BRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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AMERICA. 



UNITED STATES OF 






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THE 



Star out of Jacob. 



BY THE AUTHOR OF 

"DOLLARS AND CENTS." 

X 

w 
H l am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and 

nvrning star." — Ron. xx. 16. 







NEW YORK : 
HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, 

122 Nassau Street, 



-&& 



<* 



Eatered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 

ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 

Id the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District 
of New York. 



u ■ 

COPTRIGHT, 1891 w 

BY HURST & COMPANY. 


| 
\\ .^SHINGTON 





ARGYLE PRESS, 

Book Manufacturers, 

365-267 Cfcerry St., N, Y, 



* 



PRE FA CE. 

A preface is an impertinence, where one has nothing 
to say. I will but remind the reader, that upon almost 
all Palestine questions great authorities are divided, and 
that it is impossible for the most careful and candid ex- 
aminer to follow one, without seeming to slight another. 
A very evident fact, but one sometimes forgotten. 
Partly to show * how doctors disagree,' I have given 
various opinions on two or three points, in Notes at the 
end of the volume. 

There is also an Index of Illustrations, which the 
reader will do well to consult. My sister and I are ex- 
ceeding careful in this work to take nothing for granted, 
— and by no imagination of ours does even a flower 
bloom upon the hillside, or a particular bird wing his 
way across the sea. 

I have tried to keep fancy out of the book, altogether 
It is not that, I hope, to think out things as they might 



4 deface, 

have been, with at least some one authority for every 
point. 

4 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God : 
but those things which are revealed belong unto us and 
to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of 
this law/ Deut. 29 : 29. 

A.W. 

The Island, Dec. 21, 1867. 



Note.— The Illustrations in this volume, were executed by ta« 
Engraving Class at the Women's School of Design. 



INDEX OF CHAPTERS. 



CHAP PAGE 

I. Introduction, •••••• • • • 7 

II. In the Beginning, . ♦ • 15 

in. The Land, 30 

IV. The Old Priest, 41 

V. The Message to Mary, .62 

VI. In the Hill Country, ....... 75 

VII. Bethlehem (Note I.), 93 

VIII. The Presentation, 108 

IX. The Wise Men, 125 

X. Herod's Vain Thought 143 

XI. Nazareth (Notes II. and III.), 161 

XII. Going up to the Passover, . . . . . . 177 

XTTT. The Years at Nazareth, 197 

XIV. John the Baptist, 204 

XV. By the Jordan, 227 

XVI. The Temptation (Note V.), 242 

XVII. By the Jordan 254 

XVIII. Prom Jordan to Cana, 273 

XIX. Jerusalem, 289 

XX. In Judaea, 304 

XXI. Jacob's Well (Note IV.), 317 

XXII. Woman of Samaria, .337 

XXIH. From Sychar to Galilee, 349 

XXTV. Bethesda, 363 

XXV. The King and his Herald, ...... 376 

NOTES! 

I. Bethlehem (the Manger), . 387 

H. " (David's Well), 387 

in. " (the Massacre;, 389 

IV. Sychar, 389 

V. The Pinnacle of the Temple, 890 



INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Frontispiece— Star in the East 
Arab and Camel, . .16 

Map of Palestine, . . 32 
Plan of Herod's Temple, . 50 

1. Solomon's Porch 

2. Court of the Gentiles 

3. Court of the Women 

4. Court of Israel 

5. Court of the Priests 

6. Brazen Altar 

7. Altar of Incense 

Altar of Incense, • .61 

Terraced Hill, ... 71 
Writing Tables, . . .77 
Bethlehem, .... 90 

Khan, 96 

Shepherd and Flock, . . 100 
Prostration, • . • • 139 
Keliopolis, • . 149 



PAGE 

Woman of Bethlehem, . . 160 
Cactus Hedge, . . . 167 
Tattooed Face, . . . 170 
Fountain at Nazareth, . . 173 
Woman of Nazareth, . . 174 
Nazareth, . . . .177 

Locusts, 213 

Man bearing Locusts, . 215 

Sandals, 229 

Threshing Floor, . . 232 
A Ford of the Jordan, . . 236 
Valley of Jehoshaphat, . 247 
Windings of Jordan, . . 253 
Ancient Wine Jars, . . 285 
Wady Farah (^non?) . 309 
Jacob's Well, . . .316 
Damascus Gate, . . . 321 
People of Nablous (Shechem) 330 
Arabs at a Well, . . .336 



4m m% ol $aco1i* 




Gfapfei" J. 

INTRODUCTION. 



,¥ a small window looking towards the 
sunset, stood our four children. The 
bright rays — stripped now of their warmth, 
for it was November — yet shone lovingly upon 
the young heads and faces, and the old room looked 
fair and kindly in their light. Ours is not a city 
house, you can see that at a glance ; the stamp of 
the town is not upon one of its belongings. Out- 
side there is no high flight of marble steps, leading 
up to splendour ; but only a single flat doorstone, 
grey and time-worn, and trodden with the feet of 
many friends. Some of these stand even now upon 
the Mount Zion, — some pass up and down yet in 
the dust of this world. 

The old clapboards, which once were red and 
once were white, now in their faded strife of colours 
shew no kin to a brown stone front. Neither are 
there church steeples in sight, nor ' palatial' dwell- 
ings ; but tall green cedar spires instead, and a 



8 ^he $tar[ out of Jacob. 

bird's nest or two laid bare by the falling leaves 
and the chirp of crickets for the busy hum of men. 
The stream of life that we see is a sparkling river ; 
while a fair, fair outline of swelling hills bounds 
our visible world, and almost our earthly desires. 

Within doors the difference is quite as great 
Small windows, glazed long before plate glass came 
in fashion ; low ceilings, and doors with old revo- 
lutionary hinges ; a wide fireplace, wherein the oak 
sticks have sunk down into a heap of glowing coals 
and white ashes, — all say very plainly, c this is 
not in town.' And the entire absence of velvet 
furniture, satin curtains, and all useless pretty 
things, says it too. 

The children at the window, gazing out at the 
sundown, wear neither silk frocks, nor sashes, nor 
embroidered jackets. Frocks of dark crimson stuff, 
little white ruffles, and aprons to suit the fancy of 
the wearer, deck the girls ; while Cyril is in grey 
from head to foot. 

I said the four were at the window, but indeed 
Gracie has a window all to herself; not watching 
the sunlight, but catching its last rays upon her 
book. Gracie is a true bookworm, going over her 
beloved pages with a slow, patient devouring. She 
reads enough for two children, and remembers 
enough for three or four. There never was such a 
child, I believe, for searching out and applying 
knowledge 

Cyril likes knowledge, too, but in a much more 
dashing, boyish way. Shining deeds catch his eye. 



Introduction. 9 

but he is not half so particular as Gracie from 
what quarter the light comes. Mabel, on the 
other hand, cares most where it falls ; and will 
question this, andl disparage that, just to he rid of 
some uneasy pressure on her conscience. But our 
little Sue is still in that Paradise of life, whither 
the tempter has not yet brought shame nor fear. 

These three are in deep discussion. Some im- 
portant matter is on hand, apparently ; for the 
young ones speak low and with much eagerness, 
every now and then glancing back into the room 
at mamma. Ah, our mother ! — perhaps you will 
think that I should describe her too ; but how can 
I ? If you, with a poor little paint-brush, will fash- 
ion me the velvet leaves and dewy freshness and 
heart-satisfying fragrance of a perfect rose, then 
will I draw for you my mother's picture. She sits 
here near me, pulling lint in the fading light ; an 
ample white apron almost covering her black dress , 
a little transparent white cap half veiling her 
brown hair. I am in black, too, do you see ? since 
the week before Richmond; but mamma was too 
anxious to keep all gloom from the children's 
hearts, to put any on their dress. Only as Gracie 
petitioned with her quiet tears that they ( might at 
least wear mourning as a soldier's children,' you 
can see that there is a little band of crape upon 
each small left wrist, and on Cyril's arm. How 
earnestly they talk ! and louder now. 

i You see, Cyril,' Mabel says, with her emphatic 
gesture, c we mmt have them/ 



10 ^be jjftmj out of laoob* 

4 1 don't see it at all/ Cyril answers. c We must 
have bread, I suppose, but there's no need of but- 
ter/ 

' 0, don't you think so/ said little Sue. 

6 Yes, he does/ said Mabel ; ' he likes butter as 
well as anybody. But we're talking of books, not 
Gutter.' 

' It's all one/ said Cyril. ' You'll see. Butter 
or books — it makes no difference. Things we can 
do without, — that is the point.' 

' But I'm talking of what we carUt do without.' 

<Well — ' said Cyril. ' Then you'U have to 
learn.' 

' How you do talk ! 9 said Mabel excitedly. c Look 
at Grace now — will she ever learn, do you think ? ' 

c Gracie/ said mamma, ' come away from the 
window. You are spoiling my precious eyes.' 

Grace laughed, but obeyed instantly ; and com- 
ing up to our mother curled herself down at her 
feet on the rug. 

c How many pairs of eyes have you, dear mam- 
ma?' 

6 About — five pair, — besides my own/ said 
mamma, laying her lint straight. 

'I don't believe you know anything about it, 
Cyril ! ' exclaimed Mabel at the window. ( Now 
we'll ask mamma. Mamma ! — Sue, you tell her 
what we were talking about.' 

' Mabel always wants a deputy/ observed Cyril. 

' Tell her, Sue/ Mabel repeated. 

Little Sue climbed into mamma's lap, quite dis* 



Introduction. 11 

placing the lint manufacture ; and happily uncon- 
scious of any connection between books and butter, 
stated the case with great simplicity and clearness. 

I Mamma, are you going to buy us a great many 
new story books this winter ? ' 

I I never meant all story books/ corrected Mabel. 
' Are you, mamma ? 9 said Sue. 

1 It is a good winter to read over the old books, 
Sue,' said mamma. 

1 But we've read them all, dozens of times/ said 
Mabel. i Dear mamma, why do you say it is a good 
winter for that ? * 

i Because books are so very dear, that it is a bad 
winter to buy new ones/ 

1 Are $+ory books very dear ? ' said Sue, counting 
mamma's buttons with her small fingers. 
i Very dear. I shall make my old ones do.' 
' But we've read ours so often ! ' said Mabel dis- 
consolately. ' I know every one of mine by heart.' 
i And by head too ? ' inquired mamma. 
' What is the difference, ma'am ? ' 
' All the difference that there is between know- 
ing the wordsj and understanding what they mean.' 
' I know what all the words in my books 
mean,' said Mabel. 

i I suppose you could give me an account of each 

story, and tell me what was the name of the best 

girl and the worst boy, and all that they did, and 

where they lived ? ' 

i Yes, mamma.' 

' And how about the meaning of the story itself? 



12 J|5ho $ta*| out of Jacob. 

the truth hid away in it, the lessons to he learned 
from the joys and sorrows of this girl and hoy ? ' 

'Why — I don't suppose I could tell quite so 
much about that/ said Mahel, hesitating. 'I al- 
ways think most of the story.' 

i But that part is the most interesting of all, I 
think/ said Gracie. 'Only it puzzles me some- 
times.' 

' There isn't much worth remembering in their 
books, you know, mamma,' said Cyril. * They're 
just about boys and girls, as you said.' 

i Then I am to understand that you know your 
books more thoroughly ? ' said our mother. ' You 
know the cut of Csesar's robe, I suppose, as well as 
the list of his battles; and you can describe the 
make of the dagger that stabbed him, and the sort 
of pavement on which his blood dripped down.' 

But it was Cyril's turn now to hesitate. 

1 No mamma, — I was thinking only of the deed 
itself, not how it was done.' 

'Ah, you see how easy it is to know and yet not 
know a story, a history, or a life.' 

' But mamma ! ' — began Mabel and Cyril. 

' Mustn't we have any new books, then ? ' said 
Sue. 

'We'll see,' said mamma, stroking the sunny 
little head that lay on her breast. 'We'll see 
about that when Christmas comes.' 

' Mamma,' said Gracie, looking up and speaking 
for almost the first time ; ' if books are so dear I 
don't think you ought to get us qm, And then I 



Introduction. 13 

was remembering our pleasant time every after- 
noon — when we read. And mamma — don't you 
think, perhaps, you would tell us stories, — if we 
have not books ? ' 

Gracie had been studying the matter very grave- 
ly, and there was a little twinkling light on her 
eyelashes that told of a struggle. Mamma's other 
hand went down to her, and w T as at once caught 
and held fast. There was deep silence for a few 
minutes. 

' I had been thinking of telling you stories — a 
sort of stories/ answered mamma at length;' 'or of 
reading them over with you. There is one particu- 
lar story that we have all read, and yet I know 
might read again with great pleasure. If we 
should go it over together, slowly ; a little bit every 
night ; and I should tell you besides all the stories 
and history of every kind that help to explain it, — 
how would that do ? , 

'Why splendidly, mamma/ said Mabel, while 
Gracie gave the hand she held a silent squeeze. 
' But what story can you possibly mean ? ; 

4 It's one of my histories, I suppose/ said Cyril. 
Mamma, Sue could never understand that.' 

' Yes I could — when I'm grown up/ said Sue. 

' Sue can understand this now/ said mamma. 

' Is it my book of animals ? ' asked Mabel. 

i It is not a new story/ said our mother ; c but it 
tells of the most interesting places in the world, 
and of the most wonderful things that ever were 
done. Nothing was ever so fine as the way in 



14 ?phs $fat{ out of 2acob. 

which the story is told, and every word of it is 
perfectly true.' 

' Why mamma/ said Cyril, i have we got it in the 
house ? ' 

( I know what it is/ said Gracie, raising her 
head ; ' it's the Bible. That is the only book ^n 
the world that is perfectly true.' 

( The Bible ! ' said Mabel, — ' but, mamma, 
there's nothing at all new about that.' 

' Wait till we begin to study it, — you have nc 
idea how new it will seem then.' 

1 Which story in the Bible, mamma ? ' said little 
Sue. <I like the Bible ! ' 

'We will begin with the story of the life and 
death of our Lord Jesus.' 

Sue sat up and looked into the fire as intently 
as Gracie had done, 

1 Mamma/ she said, e will you tell us all about 
my Jesus, and the people that loved him, and how 
they followed him in the little ships ? ' 

'Yes, Sue; and what sort of ships they were, 
and how the people were dressed.' 

< And about the temple, mamma ? ' said Cyril ; 
'and the river Jordan, and the Bomans? I shall 
like that.' 

1 mamma/ said Gracie, l will you begin ix> 
night ? ' 

' Too late for to-night/ said our mother. ' I 
must get together my books and maps, and then 
we will try and begin to-morrow.' 




IN THE BEGINNING. 



$35 hour before sundown was to be the 
story hour ; which would, as mamma said, 
leave us the twilight to talk it over in. 
So when the next afternoon shadows 
began tc creep across the lawn, the children came 
trooping into our little sitting room, eager to begin 
the promised pleasure. You might notice that 
Gracie brought her Bible with her, — as usual she 
was going into the matter in earnest. 

As for mamma herself, she had long before made 
her preparations. Books and maps of various 
kinds lay on the table, ready for use ; and her own 
Bible — a Bagster's quarto — lay there, too. What 
further preparation she had made had been secret 
and unseen ; yet you could read it in her face when 
she came in, a little while before the children, with 
her white apron and lint. But this other work 
was on her heart ; for now and then the white 
hands and the white threads dropped together, and 
mamma sat looking through the window with a 
deep gaze that I think saw not our sunset moun- 



16 



out of laoob. 



tains. I think she was seeing the far-off hills of 
Palestine, visited long ago in company with one 
who was now in the holy land on high. I too, a 
little child then, had made that journey ; bringing 
back childish recollections of camels and palm 
trees and wild-looking Arabs. I thought I could 
read mamma's face now: until something like a 
reflection from the pearly gates of heaven fell unon 
»t ; and then I could look no longer. 




The children, gay with the thought of their new 
study, came singing along the hall ; making the 
old house echoes ring with their full chorus : 



In the Beginning. 17 

1 Canaan, it is my happy, happy home ! 
I am bound for the land of Canaan." 

And then as they came in, Gracie broke out with 
one of her joyous solos — 

" If you get there before I do " 

But catching sight of her mother's face, the child 
dropped like a skylark, nestling down on the floor 
at her feet. 

Mamma had hastily taken up her work at the 
first sound of the singing, but now she put it by, 
and turning to the table opened a great atlas 
which lay there. And I thought I had never 
heard anything so sweet as the voice with which 
she began. 

c Children, we are to study the story of the 
Promised Land, — of its purchase for us, of its free 
gift to us ; of its King, its glory, and its joy ; — 
that we may learn to be not faithless, but follow- 
ers of them who through faith and patience inher- 
ited the promises.' 

' I thought,' said Cyril, l that we were to study 
Palestine, and the life of Christ. I didn't know it 
was to be heaven.' 

6 The land is on high,' our mother answered, 5 and 
there was the deed of gift executed ; but the pur- 
chase money was paid here; and the land of 
Canaan on earth is but a type of the heavenly 
Canaan: it is one of the "patterns of things that 
are in the heavens." And here were laid all the 
scenes of our wonderful story.' 
2 



18 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

{ Mamma/ said Mabel, ' I can't get used to your 
calling it a story.' 

4 There is a certain German tale/ answered our 
mother, i which as if it surpassed all others in the 
world, is called, " The Tale of tales." That is only 
a fancy. But in the truest and deepest sense, the 
Gospel account is " The Story of stories." There 
was never another like it, nor shall be again* It 
was written by men taught of God ; and who were 
eye-witnesses of these things, or had perfect under- 
standing of them. It was written that we " might 
believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that 
believing, we might have life through his name : " 
it is the story of good news to sinners, — the his- 
tory of things of which even angels desire to know 
more.' 

6 Where are you going to begin, mamma ? ' said 
Cyril. 

i Why it begins at Bethlehem, don't you know ? ? 
said Sue. ' That is where my Jesus was born.' 

1 But where was our Jesus before he came to 
Bethlehem ? ' answered mamma. i We must learn 
that first.' 

'I've been trying to think where you would 
begin, too, mamma,' said Gracie ; ( for all the four 
Gospels begin differently.' 

' Which one of them is dated the furthest 
back?' 

' Matthew begins at Bethlehem, with the birth 
of Christ,' said Mabel ; 6 at least that is the first 
thing I remember.' 



In the Beginning. 19 

' And Mark with the coming of John the Bap- 
tist in the wilderness/ said Cyril, who had just 
been after his Bible. 

1 And Luke with the promise of his coming/ 
said mamma. ' Where does John begin ? ' 

Gracie, down on the floor, was already studying 
it. Mabel peeped over her shoulder. 

6 Mamma, John begins further back than all ! — 
in heaven, I think.' 

' Yes, John has a sort of preface to his history, 
and dates the first words as far back as the thought 
of man can reach : " In the beginning." ' 

6 That is the way the whole Bible begins/ said 
Cyril. " In the beginning God created the heav- 
ens and the earth." 9 

6 And it is of him who was in the beginning, 
that John's preface tells. In the beginning of all 
things ; before earth or sky or sun or stars were 
made ; " In the beginning was the Word, and the 
Word was with God, and the Word was God." 9 

' That seems to be a description in three parts/ 
said Cyril, considering the verse. 

' So it is. The first is like the words which the 
Lord Jesus himself afterwards spoke to John in a 
vision : " I am the first and the last." And what 
does the second say ? ? 

' Mamma/ said Gracie, turning over the leaves 
of her Bible, i the second is like those other words 
of Jesus — here, — "And now, Father, glorify 
me with thine own self with the glory which I had 
«rith thee before the world was." * 



20 3j5ho $taq out of Jacob, 

6 Why that is it exactly ! ' said Cyril, — ' how 
could you find it so quick ? ' 

' And for the last part/ said mamma, ' hear these 
words in Hebrews : " Unto the Son he saith, Thy 
throne, God, is for ever and ever." ' 

' Mamma/ said Mabel, c how do people know 
who is meant by the Word, in that verse ? 9 

i Why because Jesus is called by that name in 
other places in the Bible/ said Gracie. ' I know 
one, in Revelation : " And he was clothed with a 
vesture dipped in blood : and his name is called 
The Word of God." \ 

6 Yes, and in the first epistle of John, where he 
says : " There are three that bear record in heaven, 
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and 
these three are one." ' 

6 One, and yet three/ said Gracie ; * and so " the 
Word was with God, and the Word was God." 
Mamma, was Jesus called the Word, because his is 
the name above every name ? — the one word that 
we must know ? ' 

'The reason's plain enough/ said Cyril. 'The 
Bible sa^s somewhere, don't it, that God has 
spoken to us by his Son.' 

( And he said, " Hear ye him," ' remarked little 
Sue. 

'A great monarch/ answered our mother, 'has 
very little direct intercourse with his subjects; it 
must all be carried on through another. Even if 
they thrust their petitions into the king's own 
hand, the answer will be given them by some one 



In the Beginning. 21 

else. In public affairs it is the same. The Eng- 
lish queen is said to open parliament, but her 
speech is often read for her by one of the officers 
of state ; and so in France, where the keeper of the 
seals speaks in the king's name, at his bidding. 
But this is especially the case in Eastern lands. 
When an ambassador has audience of the sultan, 
every reply to his words is given through the viz- 
ier, who is the sultan's prime minister : the grand 
seignor never speaks directly to his guest. In 
China, the emperor hardly even allows himself to 
be seen by the common people. In Abyssinia, 
also, an old traveller tells us, the king kept himself 
out of sight and hearing. He sat within a sort of 
balcony, all enclosed with curtains and latticed 
windows. On public occasions, when a criminal 
was on trial or an ambassador craved audience, the 
king took his seat by a particular window which 
overlooked the court of judgment and of audience. 
-In this window was a hole covered with a curtain 
of green stuff, and close by the curtain, on the out- 
side, stood an officer of state called kal hatze ; 
through him the king sent his answers to the 
ambassador, or his questions and commands to the 
judges at the council table. The kal hatze was 
one to stand between the king and the people.' 

'That seems like the veil which Moses hung 
before that part of the temple where the glory of 
God was/ said Gracie. 'Mamma, what does kal 
liatze' mean? ' 

'It means, " the word or voice of the king." ? 



22 (phe gtarj out of Jacob. 

6 (i For by him hath God spoken unto us " ' — 
Gracie repeated, ( mamma, that is it, that is it ! 

'But Jesus is the King, too,' said Sue. 

i Yes/ said mamma, ' the kings of the earth speak 
by some one of their subjects, but God hath spoken to 
us by his Son. " The Word was God : " although 
to do this work and to fulfil this office, he took on 
him the form of a servant.' 

\ But,' said Mabel, ? God didn't speak to the peo- 
ple so in the Old Testament times.' 

' Well he spoke a great deal,' said Sue. * He 
spoke to the sea and the birds and the earth. And 
to Moses, too.' 

'Yes, but that was not Jesus/ said Mabel. 
Then our mother answered : 

' " In the beginning was the Word, and the 
Word was with God, and the Word was God. All 
things were made by him ; and without him was 
not anything made that was made." ' 

' But you don't mean that it is he the first chap- 
ter of Genesis tells about ? ' said Mabel. 

i mamma,' said Gracie, ' was it Jesus who said, 
« Let there be light"?' 

6 1 always thought that it was God the Father 
who created everything,' said Cyril. 

'The Bible says that by him, — by his Son 
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, — God 
made the worlds. Not merely our little earth, but 
the worlds : all things were made by him. And 
if you study that first chapter of Genesis, you will 
find in almost every verse the Word who was in the 



In the Beginning. 23 

beginning with God. God said, "Let there he 
light," — " Let the waters bring forth/' — a Let 
the dry land appear." " And he spake, and it was 
done ; he commanded, and it stood fast." For the 
Word was God.' 

* And so every hit of our world tells of Jesus/ 
said Gracie, — e I am so glad ! ' 

6 But, mamma/ said Mabel, 'who was it spoke in 
that other verse — I mean that other time — about 
making man, you know ? That is a little differ- 
ent/ 

? " Let us make man in our image " ■> — that is 
the Lord Jesus still.' 

* It sounds/ said Cyril, thoughtfully, ' it sounds 
just as if two were consulting together.' 

' Remember first what is said in this verse : " The 
Word was with God, and the Word was God." 
Then turn back to the glorious saying of Isaiah, 
when he prophesied of the coming of the Lord in 
human form : " Unto us a child is born : unto us a 
Son is given. And his name shall be called Won- 
derful, Counsellor, The Mighty God." And now 
you are ready for those other words : " God said, 
Let us make man in our image." } 

' That lights it up splendidly ! ' said Cyril. 
* " Counsellor," — that name always puzzled me be- 
fore. I never could understand what it meant.' 

' It's very strange/ said Mabel. ' Why I 
thought it was only the New Testament that told 
about Jesus.' 

6 From the beginning of the world/ said mamma, 



24 {f>he $ tat[ out of Jacob, 

'the Son of God hath declared the Father. All 
through the Old Testament times he was the Word 
of God. But when the fulness of time was come, 
" the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us : " 
the Voice of the Old Testament is the Incarnation 
of the New.' 

i There again ! ' cried Gracie, — c I never under- 
stood that verse before. "The Word," seemed just 
a name ; I never thought of its meaning the Voice 
from heaven that people had been hearing for so 
many, many hundred years/ 

' In our English Bible/ mamma said, i that name 
is never given to the Lord except in the New Testa- 
ment. John is the only one of the sacred writers 
who calls Jesus the Word ; and he but four times. 
But in the old Jewish Targum it is constantly 
used.' 

6 Ah, I am glad to hear about the Targum,' said 
Cyril ; ' I came upon that word the other day, and 
couldn't find what it meant.' 

( When the Jews were carried away captive into 
Babylon, and dwelt there for seventy years, they 
lost the perfect knowledge of their own native 
tongue. The orders given them by their conquer- 
ors, the speech they heard on every side, were in 
another language. And so by degrees they ceased 
to speak or to understand pure Hebrew, and learned 
a sort of mixed language, which was neither 
Hebrew nor Chaldee, but made up from both. 
Then when at last Cyrus sent back the remnant of 
Judah to their own country, and the temple was 



«__—. 



In the Beginning. 25 

rebuilt, and the priests began to read aloud to the 
people that law of the Lord which they had not 
heard for so many years ; then it appeared that the 
people could not understand it. For the law — the 
five books of Moses which bore that name — was 
written in the pure ancient Hebrew. So the 
priests, who almost alone had kept their learning, 
" read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and 
gave the sense, and caused them to understand the 
reading." 

( That is, they translated it out of the pure He- 
brew into the people's mixed language, I suppose/ 
said Cyril. 

6 Precisely ; adding also a word or two here and 
there, to explain the meaning. And after a while 
these explanations and translations were written 
down, and called a Targum, — from an Arabic 
word which means translation. This was on the 
Pentateuch — the five first books of the Bible. 
Then as other books were written, — of history, of 
prophecy ; the Psalms of David and the Proverbs 
of Solomon, — there came to be Targums upon them 
also: the habit of explaining to the people was 
still kept up. One read aloud the sacred words, 
and another gave the explanation. 

'Why did not the reader himself do that? 
asked Cyril. 

6 1 do not know, unless it was to guard the truth 
from mistakes and misrepresentations; so that in 
the mouth of two witnesses every word might be 
established. Just as St. Paul said to the church at 



26 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

Corinth: "If any man speak in an unknown 
tongue, let one interpret. But if there be no in- 
terpreter, let him keep silence." Even as it was, 
mistakes crept in after awhile ; and some of the la- 
ter Targums are in part very fanciful and untrust- 
worthy. Yet they w r ere in general use; and the 
dying words of our Lord himself, as they are told 
in Matt, xxvii. 46, are from the Targum or Chaldee 
version of the Psalms. But this first Targum of all, 
on the Pentateuch, being the oldest Jewish writing 
upon the Scriptures, was always held by the Jews 
as of the highest authority ; and proves how those 
to whom the law was first committed, understood 
its words. And now we come back to our starting 
point. In this old Targum, the word which in our 
English translation is Jehovah, the Lord ; this is 
generally explained by Memra — ■ the Word. Thus 
Memra created the world, Memra went before the 
Israelites in the pillar of cloud and of fire ; appear- 
ed to Moses on Sinai, and to Abraham at his tent 
door/ 

'And so this is our story, mamma,' said Gracie 
after a pause, — 'this is what we are to study: 
" The Word was made flesh." Mamma, until you 
begin to think and know r a little what that name 
really means, the text seems like nothing, in com- 
parison. Why it is one of the most glorious verses 
in the whole Bible ! ' 

' Yes, just think ! ? said Cyril, — 6 the Word that 
created heaven and earth, and that called to Moses 
out of the burning bush, and that gave the law on 



In the Beginning. 27 

Sinai, —that very Word "was made flesh and 
dwelt among us ! " 9 

' It seems odd that John chose just that name for 
the very beginning of his gospel, though/ said Ma- 
bel, < instead of some of the grand splendid titles 
from the Old Testament.' 

1 The names of our Lord Jesus are very many/ 
said mamma, ' and it is hard to call one grander 
than another; although some may be more pre- 
cious to us. They are like the many crowns 
which John in the Revelation saw resting upon his 
head. But each of the four writers who were to tell 
the story of his life upon earth, chose first some 
name which teaches the work he came to do. In 
Matthew it is " Jesus Christ, the Son of David," and 
in Mark, "Jesus Christ the Son of God; " while Luke 
says simply "Jesus," and John takes his peculiar 
name "The Word."' 

6 Mamma/ said Gracie, who had been in a pro- 
found study down on the floor, ' in this place in 
Revelation it says the Lord had another name, 
which no man knew. What does that mean ? ; 

( I suppose it means, how little we yet know of 
Him who is from everlasting. " Clouds and dark- 
ness are round about him ; " and we know him only 
through clouds and mists, and by reflected light. 
"Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my 
name ? " he said to Jacob, — and again to Ma- 
noah, "Wherefore askest thou thus after my 
name, seeing it is secret ? " " His name shall 
be called Wonderful," said the prophet Isaiah. 



28 t$hz $tatt out of Jacob. 

" There shall no man see my glory, and live," said 
the Lord to Moses ; and so no thought of man can 
conceive what yet the saints shall know. And per- 
haps of all the promises to them who shall stand in 
the heavenly Jerusalem, there is not one of more 
grand fulness than this : " I will write upon him 
my new name.' 5 ' » 

' u They shall see his face, and his name shall be in 
their foreheads," ; Gracie repeated, — i mamma ! ' 

'But how do all those other names tell of the 
Lord's work on earth ? ' said Mabel. ' They're just 
names.' 

' Just names that mean something. They are 
not English words, you know, most of them, but 
they have a meaning. If you put every word of 
that first verse of Mark into English, it will read 
something like this : " The beginning of the good 
news of the Saviour, the Anointed, the Son of God." ' 

'Ah that's beautiful ! ' said Gracie. '" The begin- 
ning of the good news." — how glad they must 
have been to write it ! ' 

Then our mother answered in her sweet voice : 

6 " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet 
of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth 
peace ; that bringeth good tidings of good, that pub- 
lisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God 
reigneth ! " 9 

The glorious words sounded through our little 
room like a strain of music ; and I saw Sue look up 
at her mother's face, as if wondering whether the 
sudden light and sweetness came from thence. 



In iho Beginning, 29 

€ Mamma/ she said, 'sing ! ' — and softly at first, 
then with the joining voices of all her young 
choir, our mother sang, — 

" How sweet the name of Jesus sounds, 
In a believer's ear ! 
It soothes his sorrows, heals his woundf, 
And drives away his fear." 




THE LAND. 



' W& now,' said Sue, as she climbed into our 
mother's lap, and established herself in 
great comfort, i now we're going to Ca- 
naan ! Mamma said so.' 

' Canaan is an ugly name,' said Mabel ; e it sounds 
so old fashioned,' 

* Very old fashioned, indeed,' answered mamma ; 
i nearly as old as the Deluge and the Tower of Ba- 
bel. Canaan was Noah's grandson, — the fourth 
son of Ham ; and when the Lord confounded the 
language of those proud builders in the Plain of 
Shinar, and they were scattered abroad upon the 
face of the earth, "after their tongues, in their 
countries, and in their nations," — then Canaan and 
his sons settled in this land, which we call Pales- 
tine. They were thereafter its possessors, and Ca- 
naan is its first Bible name. 

i Three hundred years passed by, and then God 
gave the land to Abraham and his seed, by promise, 
while yet they possessed not a foot of ground within 
its borders; and so Canaan became the Land of 



$he &anil 31 

Promise : " The land which God sware unto Abra- 
ham.^ ' 

( Mamma, how long was it only the promised 
land ? ' said Gracie. 

1 Between four and five hundred years. Then 
Abraham's seed, delivered from their bondage in 
Egypt, marched into the land and took possession ; 
and Canaan once more changed names, and became 
the Land of Israel.' 

6 Is Palestine a Bible name, too ? ' asked Cyril. 

6 Yes ; though in the Bible it is applied to only a 
part of the land, a district on the southwest, that 
was peopled by a wandering colony from Africa. 
They were called Philistines, and their land was 
Philistia, or Palestine, — a name which was after- 
wards used for the whole country. Then it was 
" the Glorious Land," to one of the prophets ; and 
to another, " the Holy Land ; " because there God 
had made known his truth and declared his pres- 
ence as in no other country of all the world. It 
was " Jehovah's Land," — claimed by the Lord of 
the whole earth, in some special manner, as his own. 
He demanded its tithes, its first fruits were sacred 
unto him. u The land shall not be sold for ever," 
he said to the Israelites, " for the land is mine." 
Long before our Lord Jesus had really come, it was 
called u Thy Land, Immanuel ; " and now since 
he has dwelt there ; since Palestine alone, of all the 
earth, has been trodden by him, it must be for ever 
both glorious and holy to us. 

< See/ said mamma, turning to her map, ' it lies 



^be Land. 33 

here, in the eastern hemisphere, on the west edge 
of the great continent of Asia. A little strip of 
country, not larger than the two States of Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut, cut off and set aside, as it 
were, from all the world. On the north rise the 
snow-capped ranges of Lebanon ; on the south lie 
the parched deserts of Arabia ; the Mediterranean 
Sea divides it from Europe on the west ; and on the 
east another desert, three hundred miles wide, comes 
between it and the rest of Asia. On this side, too, 
the deep, deep valley of the Jordan forms a yet 
more difficult barrier, so that whatever part of the 
territory of Israel at any time lay to the east of 
Jordan, might be considered as outside of the nat- 
ural limits and defences.' 

' I should have thought/ said Cyril, i that the 
Lord would have chosen some great country in 
which to dwell, — and Palestine is only a mere strip, 
as you say.' 

' Yes, we should have thought/ mamma answer- 
ed; 'but our thoughts are not like his. And you 
will find, all through the gospel story, that the 
Lord did not choose great things, either for himself 
or his people. His kingdom is not of this world.' 

( And no subject who loved his king would want 
to be stationed in a foreign country/ said Gracie. 

'He might be stationed there for a time, on 
duty/ said mamma, smiling ; ' but his reward must 
be in the presence of his king. It is the subjects 
who " seek their own/' that aie rewarded with for- 
eign service. Yes, Palestine is very small, and yet 
3 



34 1$hs $ tajj out of Jacob. 

it is the glory and wonder of the world. " I have 
set Jerusalem in the midst of the nations round 
about her," said the Lord by his prophet. The 
oldest nations of the world were on either hand : 
Greece, with her arts and learning, and Old- World 
civilization ; " the broad wall of Babylon," " the 
pomp of Egypt ; " but " in Judah was God known : 
his name was great in Israel." And now every 
inch of the ground is sacred, every rock and hill 
has a history touching the people of God; their 
foes, their weakness, their strength. Somewhere 
in the deep bed of the Jordan, lie the twelve stones 
that mark where the priests stood, when Israel 
passed over before the Lord ; somewhere in the val- 
ley of Elah is the pebble that smote Goliath to the 
earth. The rocks have been altars ; the hilltops 
mounts of sacrifice. The stones where Abraham 
bound his son, stretching forth his hand to slay the 
lad, are there still ; and those other stones where 
Jacob dreamed his wonderful dream. The earth 
has drunk the blood of whole " armies of the 
aliens ; " of hosts " fighting for the Lord against 
the mighty ; " the old pathways are worn with the 
footsteps of the twelve tribes of Israel ; the well- 
curbs are cut deep with their bucket ropes. Here, 
mingled with the common earth, or hidden in the 
caves on the hillside, is all that earth -could keep of 
Abraham, and Jacob, and Joseph ; of David, the 
man after God's own heart ; of Deborah, and Gid- 
eon, and Samuel ; waiting till the trumpet of recall 
shall sound. Small as Palestine is, it is yet the 



most varied of all lands, and must once have been 
exceeding lovely. Now, in the time of its forsak- 
ing and degradation, we can but guess what it was 
when God called it, above all countries of the 
earth, " My Land." It was " a goodly land," then, 
and a " pleasant ; " but no one can tell now what 
special light and beauty hung around it, in the 
days when it was : " A land which the Lord thy 
God careth for : the eyes of the Lord thy God are 
always upon it, from the beginning of the year even 
unto the end of the year." Now, it is " utterly 
ruined and spoiled." } 

' How do the Jews feel about it, now ? ? said Cyril. 

' Ah, it is still the centre of the world to them ; 
the one spot of all the earth. Still they call it by 
that proud Jewish name, " the Land." Denying 
the Messiah, whose coming was its chief glory, they 
look back to the old times when the unseen pres- 
ence of the Lord dwelt there within the veil. They 
count its very stones and dust and air, sacred ; and 
from every corner of the world whither they are 
now scattered, they wander back, poor, despised, 
unknown, — to die and be buried in the Promised 
Land. For the Lord shall yet inherit Judah, and 
shall choose Jerusalem again. 

i If you look on the map, you will see that a broad 
range or platform of hills runs quite through Pales- 
tine, from north to south, with but one break, where 
at the lower edge of Galilee the great plain of Es- 
daelon cuts through the hills, and opens a highway 
from Jordan to the sea. Dr. McLeod compares the 



36 $he $taq out of Jacob. 

range to a broad, flat-bottomed boat, with corrugated 
sides, turned upside down in the midst of the land.' 

4 What are corrugated sides ? ' said Cyril. 

* Corrugations are wrinkles. The sides of boats 
are sometimes ridged, or wrinkled, to add to their 
strength ; but the deep, deep wrinkles in the sides 
of this great platform, are made by ravines and 
water-courses to the lowland, worn by the torrents 
df six thousand years. Its top ridge is the water- 
rhed of the country.' 

1 Well, I don't know what a water-shed is/ said 
Mab^l. 

i Carry out Dr. McLeod's image, and suppose the 
feoat to have a narrow keel, do you see how all the 
rain which fell upon this keel would not lodge 
there, but would run off down to the low country 
on either side ? The water-shed of a country, or of 
a continent, is that highest ridge of land from 
which the rains pour down on either side after this 
fashion. At the foot of the Palestine hills, there 
is on each side a broad border of lowland ; on the 
west the sea-coast plain, which is in some places 
ten or fifteen miles wide, and to which the plat- 
form hills slope down through another range of 
gentler heights and broad rich valleys. But on 
the east, the edge of the hill country stands like a 
dark wall, steep, precipitous, with wild clefts and 
gorges, overlooking the valley of the Jordan, some 
ten or fifteen hundred feet below.' 

'How broad is this platform, mamma?' said 
CyriL 



$he Jiaad. 37 

1 Fifteen miles in some places, twenty in others, 
while the breadth of the whole land is nowhere 
more than ninety miles, and its extreme length a 
hundred and fifty-eight. More than half of this 
area lies west of the Jordan, and there almost all 
the scenes of our wonderful story were laid, — in 
the original Promised Land. So near are the 
boundaries, so wonderfully clear the air, that from 
many a hilltop the surrounding countries are in 
sight. From almost every point you can see the 
purple mountains of Moab, rising up in a long 
straight wall beyond the Jordan valley ; and when 
you turn to the west, there is the blue sea line, 
with its border of white sand. So may David's 
gaze have passed from the one to the other when 
he sang : " The sea is his, and he made it ; the 
strength of the hills is his also." } 

1 Mamma/ said Gracie, ' it is just like the Holy 
Land where believers live ! — there is the world 
on one side and eternity on the other. And God 
careth for it always/ 

[ Grade's imagination ! ? said Cyril, with a laugh. 
' What becomes of the other two boundaries, poet- 
ess V 

' Why, the desert is the way by which we came 
up out of Egypt, — sin and slavery lie there. And 
the ranges of Lebanon are " the hills unto which I 
aft up mine eyes," ? added the child, gazing out at 
our own mountains, all tipped with the sunset 
glory. 

' I don't see what that has to do with Lebanon/ 



38 t$h* $tatj out of laoob. 

said Mabel ; 6 1 dare say the mountains of Moab 
were a great deal prettier. 5 

But our mother answered, in her sweet way, — 

' "Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which 
cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the 
cold flowing waters that come from another place 
be forsaken ? w ; and Gracie laid her face down on 
mamma's hand, and was still with pleasure. 

' Mamma, what did you mean by its being a 
varied land ? ? Cyril asked. 

' I mean a land with the utmost variety of cli- 
mate and production, as well as of surface. At one 
time snow, at another fierce tropical heat ; the 
northern boundary always snow-clad, the Jordan 
valley often like a furnace : a country where the 
cold-loving oaks, and walnuts, and maples, are 
as much at home, as the orange trees and bananas 
that glow and ripen in the plain of Sharon. It is 
hard to tell, at first, whether one sees more of such 
old friends as apples and plums and nuts, or of 
such new acquaintances as olives, figs, and pome- 
granates. Almost everything will grow there with 
proper care. It is just so with the animals, too, — 
familiar little sparrows chattering upon the house- 
tops, and tall camels striding away across the sand. 
Nowhere, in all the world, are so many distinct re- 
gions represented, as in this little country of Pales- 
tine; and thus the allusions and illustrations and 
images of the Bible, are in a sort familiar to 
u every nation under heaven." Desert plains and 
snow-clad mountains; cultivated fields, wild val- 



^be kand. 39 

leys, and ravines ; the river, the sea, the torrents 
from the hills, the snow, the burning sun. There 
the mountain bear and the desert gazelle are but two 
days' journey apart, and ga} r tropical birds and but- 
terflies share the country with the more sober-hued 
flutterers that we know ; and the English frog and 
the African chameleon live almost side by side. 
Then in all the world, I suppose, there is no such 
mingled and wonderful view, as that which you 
have from Pisgah or Lebanon, with the Land of 
Canaan at your feet. "Not luxurious Java, nor 
rich Borneo, nor majestic Sumatra, nor the para- 
dise-like Ceylon ; not South Africa, with its moun- 
tain grandeur, can be compared with the southern 
heights of Lebanon." * In this view, " you find all 
that the eye could desire to behold on earth." The 
whole of Northern Canaan lies at your feet ; Tyre 
and Sidon, Sarepta, the wild gorge of the Leontes, 
the sea of Tiberias in the distance ; — "an ocean 
of villages, towns, castles, rivers, hills, and capes." # 
Such, even yet, is the country, which the Lord 
gave unto the children of Israel to possess it. ? 

6 Mamma, before you shut up your books/ said 
Cyril, c won't you tell us a little more about Leba- 
non ? I didn't quite understand that beautiful 
text.' 

( Lebanon is " the White Mountain ; " its snowy 
peaks gathered and kept a store of moisture, all 
through the year. Then when the summer heat 

* Van de Yelde. 



40 ^he Jptaq out of Jacob. 

came, and the brooks from a lower source dried, 
away, Lebanon sent down streams of water, and 
fresh winds, and heavy dews, to refresh the land 
They never failed ; and so while Egypt, and As- 
syria, and Arabia had but spots and strips of fresh- 
ness and culture in the midst of barren wastes, Pal- 
estine was in all its length and breadth, " A good 
land ; a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and 
depths that spring out of valleys and hills ; a land 
of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and 
pomegranates ; a land of oil olive, and honey ; a 
land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarce- 
ness ; thou shalt not lack anything in it." ' 

1 And was all that owing to Lebanon? ' said 
Mabel. 

' Yes, as the great fountain head. " The Holy 
Land was a great oasis in the desert, for Lebanon 
once blessed all Palestine, and covered it with 
streams." # 

1 And now,' said mamma, turning from the table 
to us, ( now, you understand Grade's text and mine. 
Now you know what the Psalmist meant, when he 
said, " All my springs are in thee." ' 

♦Bitter. 




TffiE OLD PRIEST. 

[$£ children had gathered round the table 
and were poring over the great map which 
lay there. Then mamma opened another 
book, and shewed us two or three smaller 
maps, with different divisions. 

1 At the time when our Lord came upon earth/ 
she said, 6 the land was all cut up into Roman prov- 
inces. It had once been portioned out into twelve 
lots, as you see it here, for the twelve tribes of Is- 
rael ; it had been gathered first into one monarchy, 
then into two, as here ; it had been conquered by 
the Assyrians, and ruled by Persian satraps ; had 
been subject to the Greek empire, under Alexander 
the Great, and to Egypt and the Ptolemies. After 
that, the people roused up and gained their inde- 
pendence for a while ; but not being at peace among 
themselves, Rome sent her legions, under Pompey 
the Great, and settled all disputes by taking the 
whole country into her own hands. This was about 
sixty three years before our story begins. The di- 
visions now were three : Judaea to the south, then 



42 $he $tar| out of £aeob, 

Samaria, then Galilee ; while the land east of Joi> 
dan was portioned out into five more. Each prov- 
ince was governed for Rome, though the governors 
were not always themselves Eomans ; and thus it 
happened. that a young Edomite boy, named Herod, 
was first made ruler of Galilee by Julius Caesar, 
and then was put by Antony in command of Judsea, 
with the title of king/ 

i Was that Mark Antony, who fought in Egypt 
and married Cleopatra ? ' said Cyril. 

6 The very same.' 

*Edom was Esau, wasn't he, mamma?' said 
Gracie. 

6 Yes ; and so it came to pass that Herod, the de- 
scendant of Esau, was set to rule over the descend- 
ants of that very Jacob who had bought Esau's 
birthright, and stolen his blessing. This was a lit- 
tle more than thirty years before our Lord came. 
To the Jews, Judaea was the most sacred part of the 
whole land. Here was Jerusalem, the holy city, 
and in Jerusalem that temple of God whither all 
the tribes had gone up to worship for hundreds of 
years. And although the first temple, built by 
Solomon, had been long ago destroy ect by invaders, 
yet to the second, rebuilt upon the same place, the 
Jews gave much of the old reverence and devotion. 
One of the first things Herod did to gain favour, 
and to cover the cruelties with which he had estab- 
lished his throne, was to baild anew some parts of 
this temple ; enlarging, and adding, and adorning, 
until it covered twice as much ground as ever be* 



fore. And though the Jews were a conquered peo- 
ple, still they kept up the temple service ; and 
there was the daily sacrifice, and the throng of 
priests, and all the old ceremonies, with which their 
heathen conquerors thought best not to interfere. 

i " Now there was in the days of Herod, the king 
of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the 
course of Abia." ' 

6 Ah ! that sounds like business/ said Cyril ; 
'what was "the course of Abia," if you please, 
ma'am ? ' 

' The priests you know/ answered mamma, i were 
a company of men set apart for the temple service 
and all things connected with it. They had the 
temple itself in charge; they prepared the shew 
bread, they offered the sacrifices/ 

' Yes, I know/ said Cyril ; ( and they were all 
from the tribe of Levi. Aaron was the first ; he 
was high priest; and then his sons were other 
priests/ 

6 In the early times/ said mamma, 'while 
Aaron's descendants were yet few, they could all be 
employed together in the various duties of the 
priesthood. But by the time King David came to 
the throne, the priests were a multitude, and could 
not possibly all serve at once. So David divided 
them by lot into twenty-four sets or courses, each 
one of which should serve in turn, a week at a time ; 
and each course was named after one of its chief 
men. If you turn to the twenty-fourth chapter of 
First Chronicles, you will see how the courses were 



44 She Stan out of Jacob. 



arranged; and there you will find that the eighth 
course came to Abijah, the Abia of whom Luke 
speaks here.* 

'And did the whole course serve together ?' 
asked Cyril. 

c At first, I suppose. But when the number of 
priests had again increased too much for even this 
arrangement, then each course was divided into 
seven families ; and each of these families took a 
single day of that week of service which belonged to 
the whole course. The new course always came in 
at midday on the Sabbath ; the morning sacrifice 
was offered by the outgoing set of priests, and then 
the next set were there all ready for the evening 
sacrifice at night. This priest, Zacharias, was an 
old man. He and his wife were both well stricken 
in years, and his wife was of the like noble lineage 
with himself ; " she was of the daughters of Aaror^ 
and her name was Elisabeth." But far better than 
that, "they were both righteous before God," — 
righteous in his eyes who looks not on the outwarf 
appearance, but on the heart ; for they walked u in 
all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord, 
blameless." \ 

i Then they were a fine old couple, that's all/ said 
Cyril. 

< Cyril ! ' said Mabel, — ' how disrespectful to speak 
so of anybody in the Bible ! ' 

i Mamma/ said Sue, i how can people walk in 
commandments ? ; 

i When day by day, and hour by hour, in every 






^he W latest. 45 

little or in every great thing, they try to know the 
will of God and to do it.' 

1 That must take a great deal of time/ said Ma- 
bel. 

( Nay/ said mamma, e there is no loitering in such 
a life. David even said, " I will run the way of 
thy commandments." It came to pass in those 
days of which we were speaking, that the course of 
Ahia came up to Jerusalem for its week of service • 
and while Zacharias executed the priest's office be- 
fore God, in the order of his course, " his lot was 
to burn incense when he went into the temple of 
the Lord." For as the different offices were very 
many, and some were counted more honourable than 
others, they were always distributed among the 
priests of each family by lot.' 

i Mamma, why do you never like to have us draw 
lots ? ' said Cyril. 

( Because casting lots is either an infidel or a 
religious thing, — not to be used at all in the one 
sense, nor ever carelessly used in the other/ 

6 Religious, and infidel ! ' said Cyril, — ' why I 
thought it was just chance.' 

* There is no such thing in the world/ ' said 
mamma; 'it is just as heathenish to talk about 
chance, as it is to talk about Mars and Venus. 
When the old Greeks put their dice or pebbles, their 
black and white beans, or their little clods of earth 
into a vessel, for the drawing of lots, first of all 
they made supplication to the heathen gods to di- 
rect them, and all lots were called sacred to Mer- 



46 $he $taq out of Jacob. 

cury. Among the Jews, on the other hand, it was 
purely a religious service. They decided everything 
by lot: the choice of soldiers for an expedition, 
the dividing of the spoil when the fight was done. 
The land was divided among the tribes by lot ; 
every man's inheritance being in the place where 
his lot fell 5 and in all difficult cases of crime and 
judgment, the matter was decided by lot.' 

6 Well, then it seems to be a very good thing/ 
said Mabel. 

' Listen, and see how they did it : " Ye shall be 
brought according to your tribes," said Joshua ; 
" and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord 
taketh shall come according to the families thereof, 
and the family which the Lord shall take shall come 
by households ; and the household which the Lord 
shall take shall come man by man." " Saul said 
unto the Lord God of Israel, Give a perfect lot." 
" And the disciples prayed, and said : Thou, Lord, 
which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether 
of these two thou hast chosen. . . . And they 
gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon Mat- 
thias." ' 

The children were somewhat in a muse at this, 
being like most children, fond of the forbidden 
amusement ; and Mabel said, half under her 
breath, — 

* But we never prayed over it, — of course that 
would be different.' 

Mamma answered, — 



^he W Jfoiest. 47 

1 " The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole dis- 
posing thereof is of the Lord." ' 

' And so God disposed it that Zacharias should 
burn incense that day/ said Sue. e What was the 
incense, my pretty maninia ? 9 

1 The incense used in the temple service, and long 
before that in the tabernacle, was made of four par- 
ticular sweet spices, and in a special way, exactly 
according to God's commandment. It was " a per- 
fume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, 
tempered together, pure and holy." No one might 
make any like it for his own use or pleasure ; it was 
for the Lord's service, and that alone. " It shall 
be unto you most holy," said the Lord to Moses. 
Jewish tradition declares that there was one partic- 
ular family of priests whose duty it was to prepare 
the incense ; and one special part of the temple was 
set apart for the work, and called "the house of 
Abtines," from the family name of these priests. 
There constant watch was kept, that the incense 
might be always ready. So to this day in some of 
the great temples in India, there is kept a man 
whose business it is to distil sweet waters from 
flowers, and spicy oils from the scented woods, for 
the heathen services in the temple.' 

' To burn before their idols ! ' said Gracie. 
' Mamma, they must have learned that from the 
Jews.' 

6 Very possibly ; and as it was death for a Jew to 
make any of this holy incense for himself, so in cer- 
tain parts of India it is high treason for any subject 



48 *|>he $tat[ out of Jaoob. 

to use the best sort of a certain sweet spice or com 
pound ; it must be kept for the king.' 

6 Mamma/ said Sue, ( what did the incense mean ? 
what was it for? Did God like it? ; 

i Everything in the old temple service meant 
something/ answered mamma ; ' and by studying 
the use we can sometimes get at the meaning. See 
how it was with the incense. It was perpetual. 
Day by day the fragrant cloud went up from the 
altar of incense, the sweetness of the morning lin- 
gering in the temple until the censer was brought 
in at night : fit emblem of the pleading of him who 
ever liveth to make intercession for us ; and as he is a 
priest upon his throne, so the golden altar was mount- 
ed with a crown and touched with the blood of atone- 
ment. But " no strange incense " might be offered 
there, there is no other name given whereby we 
may be saved ; neither might any other offering 
be added to it : our trust must be in Christ alone. 
This was the " perpetual incense," — ever ascend- 
ing before the mercy seat ; for through him only we 
have access unto God, — and this its constant, daily 
use. Then on the great day of atonement, that 
one time in all the year when the high priest 
went into the Most Holy Place, the incense must 
be his surety and defence. "He shall take a censer 
fall of burning coals of fire from off the altar before 
the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten 
small, and bring it within the vail : and he shall 
put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that 
the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat 



that is upon the testimony, that he die not." Such 
was the old command. Or if the sins of the peo- 
ple had brought down judgments upon their heads, 
then again the incense brought deliverance. " Take 
a censer," said Moses to Aaron, " and put fire there- 
on from off the altar, and put on incense," "for 
there is wrath gone out from the Lord ; the plague is 
begun." And Aaron did so, and ran in among the 
congregation, and " stood between the living and the 
dead, and the plague was stayed." 9 

' It's the same old word, mamma/ said Gracie : 
' u If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do 
it." And oh, that's what it means in the Revela- 
tion ! — " There was given to the angel much in- 
cense, that he should offer it with the prayers of 
saints." But why was the altar of incense outside 
the veil ? ' 

6 Because " the way into the holiest of all was 
not yet made manifest ; " the time was not come. 
Then, the priest trembled to approach the mercy 
seat, even with the pleading cloud of incense in his 
hand; but now, we may all " come boldly." Yet 
only through Christ, — there must be no " strange 
incense," no other offering/ 

6 Well, mamma/ said Mabel, i the old priest went 
into the temple to burn incense/ 

1 Yes, it was his lot ; and as a special blessing 
was thought to belong to this office, so special care 
was taken that it should come to every priest in 
turn. Twice each day the incense was offered ; at 
the time of the morning and of the evening sacri- 
4 



50 



^he $tai| out of lacok 



fice. Every morning, as the dawn came on, a crowd 
of priests began the daily service in the temple. 
One trimmed the lamps, and another cleared away 
the cinders from the altar of incense ; while others 
swept the temple courts, and yet others chose out a 
lamb for the burnt offering, and killed and prepared 
it to be laid on the great brazen altar.' 

u 



- 1 



........ w ■■ . ,.-,,-,, -w . ^ -■■ . 1 




w * h . . . b b k i » , ■ . t n fc b i . i . i k k i . . . ^-r 



. . h . ■ i . . . . 1 . . ■ , M > « . M ■» M < M M. I" 



J 



1 And then did somebody light the fire ? 7 said 
Sue 

1 The ilre on the brazen altar was kept always 



^bo l$)W itfyiest. 51 

burning; but some of the priests brought fresh 
wood and laid it on, that all might be ready for the 
sacrifice. Then another priest went to the house of 
Abtines for a golden phial full of incense, and car- 
ried it into the Holy Place ; and a second followed 
him with a silver shovel of live coals, taken from 
the altar of burnt offering/ 

' Where was the incense burned, mamma ? ' said 
Cyril ; i I don't quite understand.' 

' Look at this plan of the temple/ said mamma. 
•' These outer enclosures, the spaces between these 
first lines, were different courts, divided from each 
other by rows of columns, and surrounding the 
place where stood the body of the temple itself. 
You see in this central space of all, what looks like 
a long hall in two parts. On three sides of it were 
small rooms, used by the priests for different pur- 
poses, and on the fourth side, the entrance. And di- 
rectly in front of the entrance, in this square, open 
court, stood the brazen altar, or altar of burnt offer- 
ing.' 

' And what was the hall for ? ' asked Mabel. 

'The hall was the Sanctuary itself. The long 
apartment, the one nearest the porch, was called 
the Holy Place ; and beyond that, divided from it 
by a thick veil or curtain, was the Inner Sanctu- 
ary — the Most Holy Place. There, within the veil 
and hidden by it, was the mercy seat, over which 
continually rested the glory of God ; and just out- 
side the veil, in the Holy Place, stood the altar of 
incense. It was made of wood, and overlaid with 



52 3j>he $ta*| out of Jacob. 

pure gold on every side. Hither came the priest 
with the great golden dish which held the phial of 
incense, .and setting it down, he howed towards the 
Holy of Holies, and went out ; and then came the 
other with his silver shovel of coals, and pouring 
them into a smaller shovel made of gold, so that 
some of the coals were spilled, he placed this on 
the golden altar ; then, bowing reverently, he too 
went out, and the priest whose lot it was to burn 
incense entered alone.' 

* Mamma/ said Gracie eagerly, i why did they 
bring more coals than enough ? Was it to shew 
that " grace doth much more abound " ? ' 

' You may see that in it, at all events/ said mam- 
ma ; ( the love and pity and forgiveness at which 
all hearts in the world might be kindled, but which 
very many despise and tread under foot.' 

' But why did they take so much trouble about 
the coals ? ' said Mabel > c they might have lighted 
it from the lamps, just as well.' 

'Not "just as well," when the Lord's command 
was different. To use " strange fire " was a great 
offence ; and two of Aaron's sons were struck dead 
in a moment for presuming to do it.' 

6 There must be no intercession but Christ's, and 
his only through his blood, just as it is now/ said 
Gracie ; ( I see it so plain.' 

' Mamma/ said Mabel, ' I think Grace runs off a 
great deal ! What did the priest do then ? ' 

6 He cast the incense on the fire ; " and the whole 
multitude of the people were praying without at 



the time of incense." It is supposed from this, that 
the day here spoken of was the Sabbath, for on 
other days there were generally but few people at 
the temple service ; but this time the whole multi- 
tude : each praying silently in his heart ; for the 
time of incense was one of profound stillness all 
through and around the temple/ 

c I don't see why they were praying without/ 
said Cyril ; ' I should think they would have been 
praying within. That's the way in our churches.' 

1 But everything about God was far off then, for 
the one true and living way into his presence was 
not yet fully made known ; and so though people 
went up into the temple to pray, yet they never 
could venture near the mercy seat. Even David 
himself might not, but must worship at a distance, 
chosen king of Israel though he was. " I will pay 
my vows in the courts of the Lord's h^use," he 
said : " My soul fainteth for the courts of the 
Lord." And now at the time of incense, even the 
space between the brazen altar and the porch was 
cleared; and the people stood and prayed either 
quite outside the temple, or in some of its outer 
courts/ 

* But, mamma/ said Sue, raising her head, ( if 
they couldn't go near the mercy seat, what did they 
do ? Because that's what my hymn says.' 

' What does it say, darling ? ' 

( Why, about the mercy seat,' said Sue, — ( don't 
you know ? — 



54 $he $ta*i out of Jacob. 

"Erom every stormy wind that Mows, 
Prom every swelling tide of woes, 
There is a calm, a sure retreat, 
'Tis found beneath the mercy seat" 

Didn't people have any troubles then, mamma ? ' 

' But. pet/ said Mabel, ' that means the mercy 
seat in heaven. This was only a place in the 
temple.' 

' The mercy seat in the temple was a sign or 
Sgure of the one on high/ said mamma ; c with the 
veil that hung before it, beyond which the people 
might not go. For until Jesus came, or except to 
those who fully believed in his coming, God's mercy 
was a hidden thing. It is " the blood bought mer- 
cy seat " before which we lay all our fears, and all 
our sorrows, we who sometimes were far off, but are 
now made nigh by the blood of Christ. 

' So the multitude were without, praying ; and the 
priests stood ready with their slain lamb ; and other 
priests were there, with their silver trumpets. Over- 
head, in the open sky above the temple, the glory of 
sunrise was just beginning to appear, as the priest 
whose lot it was to burn incense passed into the 
Holy Place, alone ; and taking the phial of incense, 
poured it out upon the live coals upon the altar. 
Then as the cloud of sweetness rose up and filled 
the room, floating in before the mercy seat, and as 
the heart cry of many a sinner and many a saint 
went up to God as silently from the multitude 
without, Zacharias too said his prayer, and bowing 
in adoration towards the Most Holy Place, was just 



$he \$]& ]fyte$fc 55 

tfoing away, when " there appeared unto him an 
ungel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the 
<»ltar of incense ; " shining out through the ascend- 
ing clouds of intercession, a messenger with tidings 
fiat the Desire of nations was at hand.' 

i Oh, Pd like to see an angel ! ' said little Sue. 
( Mamma, did he have wings ? ' 

1 Why, he must have had, or Zacharias wouldn't 
have known who he was/ said Mabel. 

I Nay, there are other angelic tokens beside 
wings,' said mamma, with a smile ; ' and I suppose 
in this case there was such a bright glory about the 
stranger, that Zacharias could not doubt for a mo- 
ment who it was. But for what had he come ? 
The old priest " was troubled, and fear fell upon 
him." ' 

I I should think he was too old a man, and had 
seen too much, to be scared at an angel,' said Cyril. 

( But what I wonder at,' said Gracie, ' is that he 
wasn't delighted. Why, even people who are only 
going to heaven are beautiful, — but an angel who 
had just come from there ! ' — 

' Nevertheless, Zacharias was troubled. Had the 
angel come to charge him with some sin? to smite 
him for not offering the incense with a pure heart ? 9 

6 And then the angel said, " Fear not." Mamma/ 
said Gracie, ( when people really fear God, I sup- 
pose they need never be frightened.' 

c Never : and now the angel added to that com- 
forting " fear not," these words of joy : " Thy 
prayer is heard." ' 



56 ?phe $tat| out of Jacob, 

6 Well, I do think/ said Cyril, who had been 
studying the passage while mamma spoke, ' it was 
a very queer time and place for a man to pray that 
he might have a son. ? 

c I think that was not his prayer/ said mamma. 
c Years before he had prayed that, very often ; but 
he was an old man now, and had so long ago given 
up all hopes of a son, that he was not ready to be- 
lieve such a promise, even on the word of an angel. 
But I suppose there was one prayer of which his 
whole heart was full when he went in to burn 
incense, — the great national prayer that Christ 
would come. For the land was trodden under foot 
of strangers, the people paid tribute, the holy city 
was a conquered city, — where was that " rod out 
of the stem of Jesse," whose dominion should be 
u from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends 
of the earth ? " who should " stand for an ensign of 
the people/' who should " sit upon the throne of 
David, to order and to establish it ? " When 
should the fountain be opened for sin and for un- 
cleanness ? and the shadow of the great Rock 
stretch out across that weary land ? This was in 
the old priest's heart as he stood before that veiled 
mercy seat, and the Desire of nations was on his 
tongue. It often happens/ mamma continued, 
6 that God answers many prayers in one ; and so 
here. The angel just touched upon the private, 
personal joy, — " thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee 
a son," — and then went on to the glorious work 
that son should do, the glorious herald that he 



should be. " Thou shalt have joy and gladness," 
but also " many shall rejoice at his birth." " He 
shall be great in the sight of the Lord," — " And 
many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto 
the Lord their God, and shall go before Him ! " ' 

' Mamma, please stop ! ' said Gracie, ' it is almost 
too much to think of. Jesus had never come then, 
the people did not know him, — and now he was 
coming : " the Lord their God." ' 

' Zacharias couldn't have cared so very much about 
it, I should think/ said Mabel, ' or he r d have be- 
lieved it.' 

6 Ah/ said mamma, c it is just the Lord's great- 
est mercies that most try our faith ; and Zacharias 
shewed his weakness here, like the rest of us. For 
a moment he forgot the glad tidings he had heard ; 
he forgot the glorious promise that his own son 
should be the first to proclaim them : for a moment he 
could think of nothing but his old disappointments : 
and unbelief took them up, and asked, querulously, 
" Whereby shall I know this ? " > 

'I wonder he wasn't struck dead then/ said 
Mabel. 

'The Lord's patience was great then, as it is 
now/ answered our mother, ' for how often do we 
read the promises of God with these words hid away 
in our hearts : — " Whereby shall I know this ? " ' 

'Well Zacharias did get pretty well punished, 
said Cyril. 'But I don't see how Gabriel, even 
though he was an angel, should have dared to tell 
him he should be dumb. I thought only God could 
do that/ 



58 Jf>ho $tai; out of laoob. 

1 Only God can ; but sometimes it pleases him to 
put honour upon his message, by directing his mes- 
senger to pass sentence upon those who will not 
believe. So Elymas the sorcerer was struck blind 
at the word of the apostle Paul. And now at the 
word of the angel, Zach arias became dumb, until 
the promise which he had doubted should be ful- 
filled.' 

1 Mamma, angel means messenger, doesn't it ? ' 
said Gracie. 

1 Yes, Gabriel told at once his glory and his of- 
fice, — u I stand in the presence of God," — " I am 
sent.'' To stand in the presence, to stand before a 
king, is an Eastern form of speech, which implies 
constant, close personal service. " Happy are thy 
servants," said the Queen of the East to Solomon, 
" which stand continually before thee." " Seest 
thou a man diligent in his business ? " said the wise 
king himself upon another occasion : " he shall stand' 
before kings; he shall not stand before mean men." 
So King Kehoboam u consulted with the old men, 
that stood before Solomon his father," and then for- 
sook their counsel, and consulted with the young 
men, " which stood before him." All the officers 
of the king, whatever their rank, were called ser- 
vants, and all " stood " when they were in his 
presence.' 

{ Mamma, is everybody made dumb who won't 
believe ? ' said little Sue. 

1 Not just in the way Zach arias was. They can 
speak some things, but have no voice te tell the 



1$hz IJHd ^iest. 59 

loving kindness of the Lord ; and, instead of pro- 
claiming the glad tidings of great joy, they are, like 
Zacharias, " dumb, and not able to speak." 

c u And the people waited for Zacharias, and mar- 
velled that he tarried so long in the temple." For 
a sort of terror hung about that veiled mercy seat, 
and the people were always alarmed if the priest 
who went in to burn incense made any delay ; fear- 
ing he might have done something presumptuously, 
and perhaps been struck dead for his crime, bring- 
ing judgments on all the nation. Therefore it was 
the habit of the priest to stay but a very little 
while, to make but a short prayer, and then hasten 
out to the people. And now when he tarried, they 
marvelled. And when at last he came, he could 
not tell them what was the matter, for he was 
speechless.' 

i Did the people think that was a judgment ? 9 
said Mabel. 

* The old priest made signs to them, — signs of 
joy and not of fear, — and they perceived that he 
had seen a vision ; no such unheard of thing in those 
days. And then the temple service went on ; the 
sacrifice was consumed upon the brazen altar ; and 
as the smoke rose up into the clear blue sky, the 
priests sounded a burst of joy and praise on their 
silver trumpets. For that was the daily custom, 
as soon as the priest whose lot it was to burn in- 
cense came out from the Holy Place. But how it 
iiust have sounded to the heart of Zacharias that 
day ! for he knew that it was the first flourish of 



60 t$h$ $tat| out of Jacob. 

trumpets that announced the herald of the long 
promised Messiah, the King of Israel. The Jews 
have a tradition that this sounding of the silver 
trumpets could always be heard as far as Jericho ; 
but it seems as if on that mornirg it might have 
echoed round the world ! until again " the morning 
stars sang together/' and " the mountains and all 
hills praised the Lord." ' 

c You say this was at the morning sacrifice, 
mamma ? J said Cyril. 

' I said that, for it always seems to me as if the 
first announcement of the Light of the world must 
have been at daybreak ; but the Bible does not 
tell. It only says that when Zacharias had accom- 
plished all the days of his ministrations, he departed 
to his own house/ 

6 Mamma/ said Sue, suddenly looking up with 
her very studious little face, ' did Zacharias wear a 
black coat ? ? 

' Why no, Sue ! ' said mamma smiling, . — c as far 
from that as possible ! On the contrary, he wore a 
white one ; and it was not what you would call a 
coat at all, but a long white robe which reached to 
his feet. It had long, loose sleeves, and was bound 
around the waist with a broad girdle of linen, woven 
in a sort of scale pattern, and embroidered with 
flowers in purple, scarlet, white, and dark blue. 
. This girdle was passed twice round the waist, then 
tied in a knot in front, leaving ends which hung 
down nearly to the floor. The priest's feet were 
bare, and on his head was a sort of linen cap or 



(§he (f))d iciest. 



61 



mitre. But this dress was only worn when he was 
ministering in the temple, and never anywhere 
else. The priests came to the temple in their or- 
dinary dress, and put on the linen rohes there, 
and put off their shoes ; for even in Egypt, among 
heathen people, it was a sign of reverence for the 
priests to perform their service barefoci/ 




THE MESSAGE TO MARY. 




l t ' said little Sue, when we were all 
together the next afternoon, [ I want to 
hear some more about the angel. Didn't 
he ever come again ? ' 

i He came again in six months.' 

c Oh, to see the old priest ? ' said Sue, looking very 
much interested. 

'No, not to Zacharias this time. Zacharias, you 
remember, was in the temple at Jerusalem, in Ju- 
daea, when the heavenly visiter came to him ; but 
now u the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a 
city of Galilee," — the most northern province of 
all.' 

6 Gabriel, again,' said Cyril. c I wonder if all the 
other angels were as busy.' 

' Those who " alway do God's commandments " 
are not likely to be idle,' said mamma ; i and those 
who " minister to the heirs of salvation " will find 
enough to do ; but there was one special piece of 
work on earth that seems to have been always en- 
trusted to Gabriel, — it was to proclaim the coming 
*4 tile Jword Jesus,' 



(phe Message to P®atiy. 63 

' He told -the old priest that his little boy should 
go before the Lord/ said Sue. 

1 That was not the first time Gabriel had come 
to earth on his particular mission. More than four 
hundred years before that morning when he stood 
by the altar of incense, Gabriel had appeared to the 
prophet Daniel, in Babylon, and told him how soon 
the Lord should come.' 

' I didn't know there was anything about angels 
in the book of Daniel/ said Cyril. 

'He is called simply Ci Gabriel," and "the man 
Gabriel," for " he had the appearance of a man." 
Daniel saw him first in a vision ; and then one day, 
as he was speaking and praying and presenting his 
supplication, " the man Gabriel, being caused to 
fly swiftly/' came to the prophet and talked with 
him about Messiah the Prince, and told him just 
how long it would be, until the Lord should come 
and make an end of sins, and bring in everlasting 
righteousness.' 

c And when four hundred years had passed/ said 
Gracie, 'then Gabriel was sent again. How he 
must have longed for the time to come ! And then 
he told Zacharias that his son should be the Lord's 
herald. Gabriel must be a happy angel, mamma.' 

6 He was a highly honoured one too ; the only an- 
gel who is often mentioned by name in the Bible. 
And strangely enough, people who do not believe 
the Bible, nor worship Jesus, yet know this story, 
and give honour to Gabriel because he was the 
Lord's servant and announced his birth, There is 



64 ^he $tat| out of Jacob* 

no angel so popular among all the Moslems of the 
East.' 

' Why, who do they think Jesus was ? ' said 
Mabel. 

6 A great prophet ; — nothing more. Both Per- 
sians and Turks give him a sort of reverence ; and 
thereupon claim the special friendship of Gabriel, 
and suppose this particular angel to be the special 
enemy of the Jews.' 

6 But they reject the Lord just as much as the 
Jews did/ said Cyril. ' I don't see the difference.' 

i There is none/ said mamma : 6 to reject Jesus 
as the Son of God, is really to reject him altogeth- 
er ; but some think they may believe and give 
honour in their own way, and not according to the 
word of the Lord. So the Turks and Persians call 
Gabriel their friend, and the Persians give him a 
name which is doubtless very grand in Eastern 
ears, though it sounds strange to us ; they call him 
" the Peacock of Paradise." ' 

The children all laughed at this, except Sue, and 
she said, indignantly, — 

i I guess they don't see angels much ! Mamma, 
when Gabriel went to Galilee, what did he do ? ' 

' He went into a city of Galilee which is called 
Nazareth, to the house where a poor girl lived, 
named Mary.' 

i Why, mamma/ said Cyril, looking up from his 
Bible, i how do you know she was poor ? — if you 
please.' 

' I know from other things in the story \ and 



©he Message to $}a*iu. 65 

here it tells that she was espoused — or betrothed 
— to a man. named Joseph, — and he was a car- 
penter.' 

' I thought espoused meant married/ said Mabel. 

'Not always: among the Jews espousal meant 
much the same as our word betrothed, or engaged ; 
only it was more formal, and held to be as binding 
as the marriage itself. The contract was made be- 
tween the friends of the bride and the friends of 
the bridegroom, with a feast, and with gifts and 
solemn oaths ; and after that the parties were con- 
sidered man and wife, though ten or twelve months 
generally passed before the marriage. A betrothed 
woman might not give away her property, nor the 
man choose another wife, unless the contract of es- 
pousal was done away by a regular divorce. Thus 
Mary — or Miriam, for the names are one — had 
been espoused to Joseph ; a man of the royal blood 
of the house of David, though by trade he was but 
a carpenter ; and before the time came for the mar- 
riage, while she was living quietly there in Naza- 
reth, unknown and unheard of in the great world, 
the angel Gabriel was sent from God direct to her. 
And the angel said : " Hail, highly favoured, the 
Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among wo- 
men." ? 

e Mamma/ said Mabel, ( I used to think it would 
be nice to see angels ; but in the Bible everybody 
seems to be frightened.' 

i I think Mary was more perplexed than fright- 
ened/ said mamma; 'it was his saying that 
5 



66 ^be $tm] out of lasob. 

troubled her, — not his appearance. " She cast in 
her mind what manneT of salutation this should 
be>" for it was different from any she had ever 
heard. People always gave each other religious 
greetings in those days, hut the usual form was a 
sort of wish or prayer : " The Lord be with thee " — 
or, w Blessed be thou of the Lord," and Mary would 
have understood such a salutation well enough. 
But the angel spoke to her as to one towards whom 
the divine favour was not only certain, but also very 
great and special : "Joy to thee, highly favoured, 
the Lord is with thee " — " thou art blessed." 
Mary was well accustomed to be passed by and 
overlooked ; perhaps not one of her rich neighbours 
had ever sent her so much as a message of courtesy ; 
and now on a sudden such words from the King of 
kings, brought by a special messenger, were almost 
overwhelming. No wonder she was troubled at his 
saying.' 

i And then she went to thinking directly what 
it might mean/ said Gracie. ( I suppose that is 
what we should do always with God's words, wheth- 
er they trouble us or not.' 

' Always. But there was another reason why 
Mary pondered. Ever since the promise of joy 
God gave in Eden, — that the seed of the woman 
should bruise the serpent's head, — ever since then, 
from age to age, many a righteous woman had 
hoped that her son might prove to be the promised 
Deliverer. The promise at first was indistinct, 
— " the seed of the woman," — it should be one of 



^ho Message to S$attu. 67 

Eve's descendants, that was all. Then God said 
to Abraham, ,/; In thy seed shall all families of 
the earth be blessed," — salvation should be of 
the Jews. Then Jacob, taught by the Lord what 
should " befall his twelve sons," declared that from 
the tribe of Judah should He come, unto whom the 
gathering of the people should be ; and still later 
the Lord said, " David shall never want a man to 
sit on the throne." Henceforth the Messiah was 
looked for from David's line alone, — " the rod out 
of the stem of Jesse," which should stand for an en- 
sign of the people. And now when the angel said 
to Mary — herself of the tribe of Judah and the 
house of David — " Blessed art thou among wo- 
men," — no wonder she mused ; for of whom should 
that be true, but of the mother of him so long hoped 
for and expected. And the thought was so full of 
amazement, so full of awe, that Mary might well 
have sunk almost fainting at the angel's feet. But 
the angel said, " Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found 
favour with God." ; 

' Gabriel wanted her to think of that first, I sup- 
pose/ said Gracie. 6 Like the old words, mamma, 
" The joy of the Lord is your strength." ' 

6 But who can tell how the words fell on the ear 
and sunk into the heart of her who listened, as the 
angel unfolded his message ! " Thou shalt bring 
forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." And 
then, as he had done with Zacharias, the angel 
went on to give the promise in detail ; but how dif- 
ferent this one from the other ! That child should 



68 ^he $tmj out of Jacob. 

indeed be great, and should do wonderful things j 
but of Jesus it was said, " He shall be great, and 
shall be called the Son of the Highest : and the 
Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his 
father David ; and he shall reign over the house of 
Jacob for ever ; and of his kingdom there shall be 
no end." ; 

6 No end — no end ! ' Gracie repeated. 6 Mamma, 
it does one good just to say over those words/ 

( 1 guess Mary was glad then/ said little Sue. 

6 She was so glad, and so humble, that it never 
seemed to enter her mind to say how many women 
there were in Judaea more worthy of this wondrous 
honour than she.' 

6 So humble, mamma ? ' said Mabel. i Why, I 
should think being humble would have made her 
say it.' 

c I do not call it being humble to think we know 
better than the Lord,' said mamma ; 6 and Mary 
had just been told that he had chosen he?\ The 
humility which shrinks back from God's appoint- 
ment is often but the coldness of heart which 
slights the honour, or the sloth which dreads the 
work. The angel said unto Mary, "That holy 
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called 
the Son of God," — " for with God nothing shall be 
impossible." And Mary answered: — " Behold the 
handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to 
thy word." When God puts honour upon us, the 
most humble thing we can do is to accept it.' 



(She Message to $ai$, 69 

' And then the angel departed/ said Gracie ; ' and 
I dare say he sang all the way back to heaven.' 

1 Mamma/ said Sue, ' I'd like to see the house 
where Mary lived when the angel came. Was 
there a big, big window for him to go through ? ' 

' Ah I do not know, Sue, how he went in,' said 
mamma, while the rest laughed. < Some people 
think Mary was not in the house herself when the 
angel came, but that she had gone to the fountain 
to draw water, and met him there/ 

1 And what do you think, mamma ? ' said Mabel. 

' I think the Bible words seem to say she was in 
the house. But the place matters little, for God 
can speak, and angels can come, to us, anywhere. 
One thing more the angel said before he departed ; 
he told Mary of the great joy which had come to 
Zacharias and Elisabeth ; and "in those days" — 
that is, in the days that followed soon after the com- 
ing of the angel — Mary set off on a journey to see 
Elisabeth, to hear and tell all the wonderful things 
which had come to pass.' 

( Elisabeth was her cousin,' said Cyril. 

'Did she go in a carriage, mamma?' asked 
Sue. 

6 No, not in a carriage ; we may be sure of that. 
Mary, you know, was living up in the northern 
province of Galilee ; and between her and the hill 
country of Judaea, lay a distance of a hundred miles. 
Not miles of railway, nor of smooth, well made 
road, but of rough hills and deep valleys ; with nar- 
row, rugged paths winding up and down, in just 



70 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

the way the camels and donkeys thought best. For 
in some parts of Palestine they are the chief road- 
makers. No carriage could be used there then, as 
none can now: the traveller either journeys on 
foot, or rides a horse or a donkey, and at a very 
slow rate. Even the horses cannot trot over much 
of the road, but go at a sort of fast walk of two 
or three miles an hour. Mary went "in haste," 
making what speed she could ; yet instead of whirl- 
ing down to the hill country in a few hours, she 
must have been several days on the way/ 

6 But why was it called the hill country/ said 
Cyril, — c if there were hills all along ? ? 

6 It was the hill country of Judaea, — the hill coun- 
try which had been part of the inheritance of the 
tribe of Judah, and which is the south end of the 
long mountain ranges of Palestine. It is a wild, 
desolate region now ; for " Jerusalem is ruined, and 
Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their 
doings were against the Lord, to provoke the eyes 
of his glory ; " and no other land, once cultivated, 
has ever become so barren and forlorn. The 
rounded hills, with dry watercourses between, are 
gray with limestone rocks and low shrubs and 
herbage ; for the forests of Judah have long since 
disappeared. Ruined terraces, reaching quite to 
the summit of the hills, yet mark the place of the 
old vineyards and gardens ; and on almost every 
hill top are the broken walls and fallen buildings of 
the fenced cities of Judah, towards which the path- 
way, deep worn in the limestone of the hill, goes 



$he Message to ®km\y. 



71 



winding up like a white thread. Here and there 
you see a town which is yet inhabited, and where 
olive trees and vines stand loaded with their rich 
fruit ; but neglect and ruin mark all the rest.' 

6 What are terraces ? ? said Cyril. 

' In a country w T here there is but little level 
ground/ said mamma, ' the people often make ter- 
races to get place for their fruit trees and gardens. 
A garden planted on the mere face of a steep hill 
would soon be cut up and washed away by the rain, 
and so the people build walls on the hillside, and 
fill the earth in behind them all smooth and level, 
and tiie wall keeps the earth in its place. On 
many of those hills of Judah the terraces run round 
and round, from the bottom to the very top. There 
are the old walls yet, and the broken down watch- 
towers ; but in the places where " Judah bound his 
foal to the vine," there is little else now but silence 
and desolation.' 

iJIL 



SEttSfsssi! 






6 Mamma, it didn't look so in Mary's time ? ' 
said Mabel. 

( No, not so j though just how fast the ruin has 
gone on, we do not know. But once, long, long 



12 ($txt Jjwmj om qi j.ac-OD. 

ago, when "also in Judah things went well/' this 
hill country was the stronghold of the tribe. Then 
there were forests and palm trees and myrtles 
among the rocks and caverns ; then the streams 
and springs were more abundant ; and the slopes 
of each city-crowned hill were covered with vine- 
yards and olive groves, and the terrace walls stood 
strong and perfect. Every vineyard had its watch 
tower, and Judah " washed his garments in wine, 
and his clothes in the blood of grapes." ' 

1 Mamma. I shouldn't like to see it now/' said 
Gracie ; ( I would rather think of it as it used to 
be. Isn't there anything left of its old glory ? ' 

•Anything? — yes. one thing/ said mamma, — 
i the flowers. It seems as if no curse from heaven 
or earth could ever rest on them ; and in spring time 
the whole land glows and shines with their wild 
beauty. Flowers peculiar to Palestine, and in such 
profusion as I can hardly describe ; seeming more 
like a spread-out cloth of crimson or white or gold, 
than like little separate blossoms. The spring 
grass on hill and valley is but thin and short, and 
over and among that bloom multitudes of daisies, 
blue hyacinths, and the white star of Bethlehem, 
with pale brier roses on their prickly stems. But 
most striking of all are the red flowers, — poppies, 
wild tulips, anemones ; until in some places the land 
is " a blaze of scarlet," and the anemones " run 
like fire through the mountain glens." ; 

< Oh ! ' the children cried, with a long breath of 
eager admiration. 



e $le$$aqe to PBatm, 73 



* These crimson anemones of Palestine/ mamma 
went on, 'have gained for themselves a strange 
name: they are called " blood-drops," — "the 
blood-drops of the Lord." ' 

'And that is all that is left of the glory of 
Judah ! ' said Grade mournfully, — ( " the blood- 
drops of the Lord ! " ' 

6 Mamma/ said Mabel, 'won't you let it be 
spring time when Mary went to see Elisabeth? 
I like to think of her riding among the flowers/ 

' We will suppose it was, if you like/ said 
mamma; 'and along the glowing, dazzling hill- 
sides, and through the deep flower-strewn ravines, 
Mary went with haste, to one of those hill-top 
cities of Judah, not then ruined and cast down. 
And she entered into the house of Zacharias, and 
saluted Elisabeth. And even as she spoke, the 
Spirit of God came with power into the heart 
of Elisabeth, and she broke forth with the very 
greeting of the angel : " Blessed art thou among 
women ! " declaring at once her joy, and her un- 
worthiness of so high an honour. Once, the old 
priest's wife may have thought it an honour to her 
poor young cousin to come and pay her a visit, but 
now things were changed. " And whence is this 
to me/' she cried, " that the mother of my Lord 
should come to me ? " Seldom before, perhaps, 
had those two words — " my Lord " — been so 
spoken : the whole Bible up to this time gives 
but one instance. They had been said often 
enough as a title, as a mere rendering of praise 



74 (Uha $tatj out of laoob* 



and reverence, a mere form of address ; but now 
with that sense of personal love and possession 
which only a believer in Christ can know. And 
as Elisabeth ceased, Mary answered in like words : 
"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." Sweeping 
with a glad hand that " instrument of ten strings/' 
and sounding first the Lord's work, and then his 
power and goodness, and then those promises 
which "stand fast for ever." There has been 
many a thanksgiving among God's people from 
age to age, and many an outburst of joy and 
faith ; but I think never such a one as was heard 
that day, in the unknown city in the hill country 
of Judaea. "And Mary abode with her about 
three months, and returned unto her own house." ' 

c Mamma, what was that " one instance " ? ' 
Gracie said, as mamma closed her books. 

i The only one I remember ; — When David said, 
" The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my 
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy foot- 
stool.'" 



IN THE HILL COUNTRY. 




in the hill country did 
Zacharias live, mamma?' said Cyril, 
leaning his elbows on the table and 
poring over the map. 'The Bible don't 
seem to tell.' 

'And therefore we do not certainly know; 
scholars are divided on that point. But far down 
here among the mountains of Judah, and just 
where the hill country borders upon the desert, 
are the ruins of Juttah, — one of the cities of the 
priests in former days. The hill is partly covered 
with the buildings of the modern Moslem town of 
Tuttah ; but among and around these lie old walls 
and foundations, once the dwellings of the wor- 
shippers of the true God ; and here, it is supposed 
(by those who should know best) lived Zacharias 
and Elisabeth. Here, then, was born that child so 
especially set apart for the service of God, and 
filled with the Spirit of God even from his birth. 
Elisabeth's neighbours and friends came to rejoice 
with her ; and when the child was to be named, 
"they called bim Zacjiarias, after the name of fci* 



76 <§>he $taq out of Xaoob* 

father." But his mother knew that her son had 
been already named from heaven, — " Thou shalt 
call his name John," said the angel, — and now 
she repeated the words, and answered, " Not so ; 
but he shall be called John." ' 

6 Well that was a great deal prettier name than 
Zacharias/ said Mabel. 

'But in those days, as now, people thought 
more of pleasing some friend or relation than of 
giving the baby a pretty name. " They said unto 
her, There is none of thy kindred that is called 
by that name." And then, as Elisabeth did not 
give up her choice, they appealed to Zacharias 
himself, and made signs to ask how the child 
should be called.' 

6 And then Zacharias asked for a writing table — 
so he was dumb yet, ? said Cyril. 

{ Mamma, why did he ask for the table ? — why 
didn't be just go and sit down and write ? ' said 
Sue. 

'0 that was not what we mean by a table,' 
said mamma ; ' it was a writing tablet. People did 
not know how to make soft sheets of letter paper in 
those old times, and had to use other things in- 
stead. Sometimes they wrote their words upon- 
pieces of metal, sometimes upon slabs of stone; 
using a hard graver's tool for a pen: such were 
the two tables of the law which God gave to 
Moses in Mount Sinai. Sometimes they used 
long strips of prepared leather, which when they 
were full could be rolled up and tied, — all the. 



In the #ill founfcju. 77 

early copies of the books of the Old Testament 
were written in this way. But the ordinary 
writing tables were bits of lead or smooth thin 
strips of wood, sometimes used singly and some- 
times tied together, and answering much the 
same purpose as our slates.' 

' But the writing can be rubbed off our slates/ 
said Cyril. 




1 So it could from these. From the lead tablets 
it was beaten out, to leave a clear surface for the 
next occasion ; and the chalk marks on the wood 
were rubbed or scraped off. This is the only sort 
of slate used in Greek schools to this day. Often 
the wooden slabs were coated with wax, in which 
the letters were traced with a sharp steel pencil. 
See, here is a picture of one. On such tables, it 
is said, the Old Testament prophets used to write 
their visions and prophecies; setting them up then 



78 (pho $tat| out of Jacob. 

in some public place for all the people to see. 
" Write the vision/' said the Lord to the prophet 
Habbakuk, "and make it plain upon tables, that 
he may run that readeth it." ' 

6 It must have taken a great while to write so/ 
said Cyril ; i and I don't see how they could put 
any thing on one of those little tablets. Why, 
when we go scratch, scratch over the paper, two 
or three words would fill a line like that.' 

'They did not go scratch, scratch, as }^ou call 
it/ said mamma. i It was a slower kind of writ- 
ing, with a different language and a different 
alphabet. Look at this word " Hebrew " — you 
see the characters are just such 
as could be easily made with a 
■na?, sharp, hard point of steel.' 

1 Well, which sort of table did 
Zacharias use ? ' said Mabel. 
•Jjn^ i This one in the picture. It 

is called by the very same word 
now in Greece that St. Luke 
used for it eighteen hundred 
years ago. Just such a writing table as this was 
brought to Zacharias, with one of those long, sharp 
steel pencils ; and in the soft white wax he traced 
these words :" His name is John." The people 
who stood by marvelled ; but for Zacharias, with 
the writing of that word the last sign of his unbe- 
lief was swept away : " His mouth was opened 
immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake 
and praised God." J 



In the $ill (?oun%. 7? 

i Mamma, how did it show his faith to write 
that ? ' said Gracie. 

'To give his child the name which the angel 
had ordered; was to acknowledge that the promise 
brought by the angel had been fulfilled. " John" 
means " the gift or mercy of the Lord," — and the 
old priest had doubted whether such a gift could 
come to him. But now he acknowledged that this 
child was indeed " Jehovah's gift " — his mercy : 
and not only as any child might be, but that he 
was a sign of that "unspeakable gift" which 
should follow, — of that mercy of the Lord which is 
from everlasting to everlasting/ 

c And when he had openly set to his seal that 
God is true/ said Gracie, ' then his faith was worth 
something. It was not enough to hide it away in 
his heart ; for he must have believed, as soon as the 
child was born, — and it was eight days old now.' 

( I don't see why the people marvelled,' said 
Mabel. 

1 It was perhaps an uncommon name, in the first 
place,' said mamma. [ So far as we know, but few 
people had ever borne that name before ; the Bible 
tells of not one. And even the old " Johannan," or 
" Jehohanan," which means the same as John, had 
been little known. Perhaps, too, these neighbours 
and friends were of those who knew the promises, 
who remembered that God had said, " I will send 
forth my mercy," — "I will give to Jerusalem one 
that bringeth good tidings." Long, long had the 
hand of the Lord been stretched out in anger over 



80 ^ho $taq out of £acob. 

the land, until even his faithful people had said, 
tt Is his mercy clean gone for ever ? " And now as 
Zacharias took the writing table, we can fancy how 
those around him looked over his shoulder; how 
they watched the long steel pointer as it traced out 
fche words : how those who could read spoke out the 
tidings to all the rest, — " His name is John/' — 
the gift, the mercy of the Lord. What manner of 
child should this be ? for those who trusted the 
Lord most fully had but seen the promise afar off. 
But Zacharias knew ; and in such words of praise 
and rejoicing did his faith now declare itself, so 
publicly did he make it known, that fear came on 
all that dwelt round about ; and these sayings were 
noised abroad throughout the whole hill country of 
Judaea. From mountain top to mountain top, — to 
Hebron and Maon and Carmel and Ziph, — the 
tidings spread ; and all that heard them laid them 
up in their hearts, saying over and over again : 
" What manner of child shall this be ? " And the 
hand of the Lord was with him, — the power and 
presence and love of God.' 

6 It seems as if Zacb arias couldn't stop speaking 
when he had once begun/ said Mabel, bending 
down by Grace. 

i But he says it all as if the thing were already 
done ! ' said Cyril. < " God hath visited " — " God 
hath raised up." That can't be spoken of John, — 
and Jesus wasn't born yet.' 

' The shout of faith is always a shout of victo- 
ry/ said our mother. ' To faith, things are, when 



In the Will (Sountrnj. 81 

God Las once promised them. And besides, Zach- 
arias spoke by special divine inspiration. No, the 
words were not spoken about John : already the 
greater had overshadowed the less. It was " the 
horn of salvation," the deliverance from our ene- 
mies, the fulfilment of God's covenant promise, 
over which Zacharias poured out his heart. Even 
his long wished for son was but a very secondary 
joy. Standing there by the side of his child, the 
present cause of gladness almost disappeared before 
the thought of the glory which should follow. — 
"Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the 
Highest : for thou shalt go before the face of the 
Lord to prepare his ways." To give knowledge of 
salvation, to declare the tender mercy of God, to 
proclaim the coming of the Day spring from on 
high, which should give light to them that sit in 
darkness, and guide our feet into the way of peace. 
what words to be spoken over a helpless child ! 
But the time of his work was not yet come. Now, 
he must u grow and wax strong in spirit," — as 
every child must who would do work for God. ? 

6 And did he go to live in the deserts so as to 
have more time for study ? ? said Cyril. 

6 Many people have thought so, though I see not 
how the Bible warrants it. Children in general 
were under the mother's care until they were five 
years old, when their regular education began, un- 
der care of the father. Then, when old enough, 
the boys were often sent away to the charge of 
some priest or public teacher. But as Zacharias 
6 



82 t$hz jjftaii out of Xacob. 

himself was a priest, and as Juttah was just on the 
borders of the desert, the words here may mean 
nothing more than that in this wild region of 
country, unknown and unnoticed, John passed his 
years of preparation for the work he was to do. 
For when people are strong in the Lord, and in the 
power of his might, they can live just as separate 
from the world in it as out of it : like some of those 
rivers which flow into the sea, and through it, and 
yet never mix with it, nor lose their fresh colour 
and sweetness in its salt waves.' 

1 Mamma/ said Sue, 'if the words did mean 
something else, where would John have lived then ? 9 

6 Then, as soon as he was old enough, he would 
have lived in some one of the caves of which those 
wild regions by the Dead Sea are full, — lived a 
hermit life, "till the day of his shewing unto 
Israel." } 

6 Mamma/ said Gracie, i I don't understand all 
these words of Zacharias. It's easy to know what 
is meant by our enemies, and to see how as soon as 
the Deliverer comes to our help we can "serve him 
without fear," — that means, " sin shall not have 
dominion over you." But what is * a horn of sal- 
vation"?' 

( I can tell you something about that/ said Cyril ; 
'I found it out when I was studying the texts 
about Darius and Alexander, A horn is one of the 
Bible symbols of power and strength.' 

' And Jesus is " mighty to save/' ' said Gracie ; 
<Oyes!' 



In the Will $01*11%. 83 

( Then it is often used as an image of glory and 
dominion/ said mamma : ' " The horn of Moab is 
cut off," — "I will cause the horn of Israel to bud." 
And there is yet another meaning. On each cor- 
ner of the brazen altar was a little point or projec- 
tion called a horn : to these were bound the animals 
brought for sacrifice, and they were daily wet with 
the shed blood. Even the golden altar of incense 
had its four horns, which once every year must be 
touched with the blood of atonement. When a 
criminal fled to the temple for refuge from the law, 
he laid hold of the horns of the altar and was safe : 
so by Jesus, our horn of salvation, we lay hold on 
eternal life, and there is no more condemnation. 
No wonder there was rejoicing in the house of 
Zacharias that day, for the promise which had 
been given since the world began was now near 
its fulfilment. 

i Meantime, away up in Nazareth, the news of 
some of these things had come to the ears of Jo- 
seph. But when he heard of Mary's joy ; when he 
learned that she was to have a child, and that she 
believed this child would be the long-expected 
Messiah ; then Joseph was troubled. He did not 
believe, I suppose, that this promise had really 
been brought by an angel ; he did not believe that 
this child should be called the Son of God ; but he 
thought that Mary had deceived him, or was de- 
ceived herself, and that the whole thing was a 
made-up story. Yet he was a just man, unwilling 
to do any one the least wrong ; and he decided with 



84 {phe $tat| out of Jacob. 

himself to keep the matter secret, so far as he 
could. He would put her away privily, — they 
would separate, but there should be as little said 
or known about it as possible. While he thought 
on these things, with much doubt and sorrow of 
heart, and being one day — or one night — in a 
weary sleep, behold the angel of the Lord appeared 
to Joseph in a dream, and brought him counsel.' 

1 Was that Gabriel, too, mamma ? ' said Sue. 

4 So it is supposed, but the Bible does not tell.' 

( But I thought dreams never really meant any- 
thing ? ' said Cyril. 

c You forget that God can make anything mean 
something : there is no way, as there is no place, in 
which he cannot speak to us. And in former days, 
he often made his pleasure known " in a dream, in 
a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon 
men." "God is departed from me," said Saul, 
after his wilful disobedience, " and answereth me 
no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams. " ' 

'And did people know that God made the 
dream ? ' said Sue. 

4 They were pretty sure to know that, even when 
they did not understand the meaning of the dream 
itself. Sometimes it was plain enough, as when 
Jacob's favourite son dreamed that the wheat 
sheaves of his brethren made obeisance to his 
sheaf: sometimes it needed an interpreter. Pha- 
raoh dreamed of the seven full ears of corn, and the 
seven blasted ears, but knew not till God's servant 
told him, what they meant, nor that God had 



In the #ffl (Poimtoflj. 85 

shewed him what he was about to do. So Danie 
was called upon to interpret the dream of the king 
of Babylon, being himself taught of God in a night 
vision what to say. And I think we can see 
several reasons why God chose this way of instruct- 
ing Joseph. Mary had doubtless told him of the 
visit of the angel, and Joseph perhaps laughed at 
the idea. He had never seen an angel himself, — 
how then should she ? So men reason. And then, 
as Mary persisted in her story, we can imagine 
him saying in utter unbelief, " She must have 
dreamed it." But when the angel of the Lord not 
only came to Joseph himself, but came in a dream, 
then Joseph had no more to say : the words of his 
betrothed wife were proved true. In silence and 
wonder he listened to the voice of the angel, that 
told him not merely what name the child should 
bear, but also its glorious meaning : " Thou shalt 
call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people 
from their sins." In complete submission and obe- 
dience, he followed the command he had received, 
and " being raised from sleep, did as the angel of 
the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his 
wife." 

6 It came to pass in those days, soon after this, 
" that there went out a decree from Csesar Augus- 
tus, that all the world should be taxed." ? 

i Csesar Augustus was the Roman emperor/ said 
Cyril. 

/He was the Roman emperor at that time; and 
not content with the subject condition of Palestine, 



8^ $he $taq out of Jacob. 

h»< had a mind to put the people yet more undei 
"oofi, and make them pay tribute. So he issued 
tins decree ; and whether it included the whole 
Roman empire or not (for history leaves this un- 
certain), in Palestine at least " all the world n — 
that is, everybody — must be taxed. And first of 
all, to this end, everybody must be registered; 
their names and age and amount of property must 
be written down. As soon as the decree went 
forth, the work of registering began ; though the 
whole matter was not finished and the tribute ac- 
tually imposed, until ten years after. This taxing 
was first made, or completed, when Cyrenius was 
governor of Syria. Syria was a region of country 
lying to the north of Palestine/ 

'That registering must have been a little like 
our census, mamma/ said Cyril. 

'Yes, in some points. But our census-taker 
goes about from house to house, asking questions 
and noting down replies ; while in this case the 
people must all go to the registrar and give in 
their own names. And a troublesome piece of 
work it was ; for by Roman as well as Jewish cus- 
tom, each man must be taxed in his own city ; not 
the city where he lived, but the one which had 
been the headquarters of his tribe or family, — the 
city where he belonged by descent and birth. So 
the whole land was put in commotion. You can 
think how it would be here, — people going from 
Boston to New York, and from New Orleans to 
Cincinnati, and from the far off States of Idaho or 



In the Will <?ounbn|. 87 

Oregon back to some little village in New Eng- 
land ; and though Palestine was but a small coun- 
try in extent, yet you must remember that there 
were no steamboats or railroads to make the miles 
seem short . People could not travel faster than 
two or three miles an hour. And so with Mary 
riding some slow, sure footed inule, and himself 
probably on foot by her side, Joseph went up from 
Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, 
unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. 
Because he was of the house and lineage of David.' 

i Why does it say " went up " ? ' asked Cyril. 
' It looks down, on the map.' 

' Bethlehem is really one of the high points of the 
country. But besides this, it was near Jerusalem ; 
and towards Jerusalem, their glory and their joy, 
the Jews went up from every part of the whole 
land; from Egypt or from Assyria. It was the 
highest part of the whole earth to them.' 

' Because God's name and presence were there/ 
said Gracie. ' But now, mamma — 

" Not from Jerusalem alone, 

To heaven the path ascends." ' 

' Thus journeying on,' said mamma, ' first through 
the richer province of Samaria and then among the 
swelling hills of Judah, I suppose that Joseph and 
Mary came to Jerusalem ; and passing in at one of 
its twelve gates, crossed the city, and went out 
through another gate on the south side which 



88 f|>ho $ta*i out of Jacob. 

looked towards Bethlehem, — then about six miles 
— or two hours — off on the Hebron road.' 

'Mamma, did you see those gates?' said Sue. 

' There is nothing left of the old gates now/ said 
mamma, 'nor of the old walls. Jerusalem that 
was is all passed away. Nothing more than a 
few foundation stones here and there remains of 
her former greatness ; and instead of twelve open 
gates, there are now but five. Yet these probably 
stand in the places of some of the old ones, lead- 
ing out to the great highways which approach 
Jerusalem on different sides. The "Damascus 
gate," as it is called, is on the north, opening 
upon the very road along which Joseph and Mary 
came that day; and the Bethlehem, or Hebron, 
gate is on the south side of the city.' 

6 Was Bethlehem in sight, mamma ? ' said Gra- 
de. 

'No, not in sight, and yet almost that; for as 
they wound down into the deep valley, and then 
up along the steep ascent, they had but just lost 
the line of the city walls -and the sheen of the glit- 
tering temple, when in full view before them lay 
the little village of Bethlehem, on the ridge of its 
limestone hill. God had chosen a new place and a 
new manifestation for his glory, — " not of this 
world," was written upon every step of our Master's 
life, as it should be upon that of his servants. In 
everything "he humbled himself;" and so his 
birth was to take place not in that glorious city of 
Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth, but in a 



In the $ill <?ountyg 89 

small suburban town, little thought of and never 
distinguished. The temple — built of white stone 
and in many parts covered with plates of gold — 
shone in the distance like " a hill of gold and of 
snow," dazzling as the kingdoms of this world and 
the glory of them : but the two wayfarers left it be- 
hind, and journeyed on to the humble town which 
had been chosen for the birthplace of that child, 
whose name should be called " Immanuel : God 
with us." ? 

1 Is it a pretty place, mamma ? ? said Sue. 

'It is a wonderful place, Sue, — no, I doubt 
whether you would call it pretty ; but the old town 
has a very striking appearance as you see it from 
almost any point. It is built on a narrow rocky 
ridge, which slopes sharply down to the east from 
the platform of the central hills ; and is a complete 
specimen of the hill towns of Judah : with one main 
street that is half a mile long, and houses all built 
of the same white limestone as the hill itself. The 
town is neat, for the East, and the houses are well 
built ; and the hot glare of the limestone is softened 
by the vineyards and olive groves and fig trees, 
which grow in terraces quite to the top of the hill ; 
sweeping round its sides like a regular stairway. 
Far off in the eastern distance lies the Dead Sea, 
with its desolate shores ; and still beyond falls the 
purple shadow from the long mountain wall of 
Moab. It is a wild, bleak scene now, although the 
terraces on the Bethlehem hill are green and fruit- 
ful and in perfect order ; but once the surrounding 




Bethlehem. 



In the Will (founts 91 

hillsides were terraced and fertile like its own; 
and the valleys between, but little cultivated now, 
were once a mere waving cornfield, and gained foi 
Bethlehem its name: Ephratah, "the fruitful:" 
Bethlehem — "the house of bread." ' 

6 Ah it can never lose its name now ! ' said Gra- 
de, — i since the bread of life was first seen there. 
Mamma, how beautiful it is, the meaning of Bi- 
ble names. But why don't they cultivate the 
fields still?' 

'The country is overrun with wild troops of 
Arabs, and no crops are safe at any distance from 
the town. But Bethlehem must have been won- 
derfully beautiful in those old times when it bore 
its two-fold name of plenty, and was called Beth- 
lehem-Ephratah. And it was one of the very 
oldest Bible towns ; already built and inhabited 
when Jacob came back with his family and flocks 
from Padan-Aram, and met his first great sor- 
row almost beneath its walls. For Eachel died 
" in the way, when there was yet but a little way 
to come unto Ephratah." Long after that, the 
town was fortified by King Eehoboam ; but tower 
and wall have disappeared, and the town has been 
destroyed, and all the buildings there now are new. 
Nothing is left of the Bethlehem that was, except 
the associations and the hill outlines and the valley 
sweep. But here David was born, — here, by the 
gate, was the well of water for which he longed 
when the Philistines held Bethlehem, and David 



92 ®h* $tatt out of laeob. 



and his men were in hiding in the caves below. It 
is half a mile from the gate now.' 

6 The very old well, mamma ? ? said Cyril. 

* The very well ; to which the three mighty men 
charged up the hill, " and broke through the host 
of the Philistines, and drew of the water, and 
brought to David." At the foot of the hill lie the 
broad cornfield valleys where David's great grand- 
mother, Ruth, gleaned after the reapers at the time 
of barley harvest ; and on the neighbouring heights 
David kept his father's flock, and fought with the 
lion and the bear that came up out of those wild 
ravines and caves, of which the hill country of Ju- 
dah is full. Hither came the prophet Samuel, to 
anoint a new king over Israel, in place of Saul, 
whom the Lord had rejected ; and they called David 
from keeping the sheep, and anointed him. And 
then humbly going back to his charge, and valiant- 
ly leaving it again to fight in the Lord's cause ; 
even after he had slain the Philistine giant, David 
gave no higher account of himself than this : " I 
am the son of thy servant Jesse, the Bethlehem- 
ite." ' 

i u Lowly in heart," the Lord's Anointed, a King 
and a Shepherd too,' said Gracie. 'In how many 
ways Christ was the son of David ! ' 




BETHLEHEM. 



(f^i$£>B see how mamma had us on her 
heart as she went on with the gospel story. 
I could see it when she first began ; and 
now as we came nearer and nearer to the 
great centre and light of the whole, the feeling 
grew very deep. She did not even take up her 
work this afternoon, while waiting for the children 
to come in from their walk ; but sat with the open 
Bible before her, her face resting on her hands. 
And the sweet unhidden lines of the mouth told all. 
How tender, how pleading they were at times, — 
how they trembled and gave way, as once more the 
young voices came in with a song : — 

" Hark ! the herald angels sing, — 
Glory to the new-born Kong ; 
Peace on earth and mercy mild, 
God with sinners reconciled. 
Joyful all ye nations rise, — 
Join the triumphs of the skies ; 
With angelic hosts proclaim, — 
Christ is born in Bethlehem." 

i the angels ! the angels ! • said Sue, climbing 
into mamma's lap; c we're going to have ever so 



94 ff>he $taq out of Jacob, 

many angels to-day ! ' and Sue wrapped her arm c 
round mamma's neck, and gave her kisses as if she 
thought certainly one angel was already in our little 
room. And mamma leaned her fair cheek against 
the child's sunny head, and began softly, in a low 
voice : 

i " And she brought forth her first born son, and 
wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in 
a manger ; because there was no room for them in 
the inn." It is said in Proverbs, that "a man's 
gift make th room for him," — but when our Lord 
Jesus came to give his own life for his people, the 
people said : a No room." 9 

i But I suppose there really was not/ said Ma- 
bel. ' Inns do get very full sometimes.' 

( Yes, inns do, — and so do hearts/ said mamma ; 
1 until there is no room for Jesus. But when do 
mere worldly thoughts and desires fail to gain ad- 
mittance ? And if Mary had come with a long 
train of servants, and Joseph had proclaimed the 
promised birth of some great earthly prince, who 
would not have found room then ? Every private 
house would have been thrown open, every guest 
would have offered his apartment, and the whole 
inn would have been thought too small. But 
again, "Not of this world." There were perhaps 
a thousand people in that crowded inn, — strong, 
sturdy men, accustomed to spend nights as well as 
days in the open air; yet not one gave up his place. 
Already began our Lord's humiliation upon earth ; 
and now for the first time he was despised and re- 



Bethlehem. 95 

jected of men : " he came unto his own, and his own 
received him not : " and the poor mother, weary 
and sick, could find no place of shelter but the very 
meanest in all the town.' 

'Mamma/ said little Sue, l why aidn't Joseph 
go to another inn, if that one was full ? 9 

' Because, little Sue/ said mamma, ' there was 
but one in all the place. These Oriental inns are 
not in the least like ours. In the thinly settled 
countries of the East, where tracts of desert land 
are frequent ; and where, because of the heat, peo- 
ple can travel but a short distance without rest, 
there are great public places of shelter built here 
and there along the road ; and always, if possible, 
near a well or fountain. Some of them are in the 
towns, some on the wild roads between. These 
inns, or khans, or caravanserais, are " untying 
places " — "lodging places for the night ; "'for here 
the traveller stops and unloads his camel, or takes 
the saddle from his donkey, and gives himself a 
night's rest.' 

'And gets a good supper too, I suppose/ said 
Cyril. 

' If he has brought it with him/ said mamma, — 
' not else. At most of these inns there is no land- 
lord and no servants : the traveller must take care 
of himself; provide his own bed and cook his own 
provisions. Often the khan is a mere walled enclo 
sure, from which the animals cannot stray while 
their master rests, and where the weary rider him- 
self can find a shadow from the heat; but some- 



96 



t$h$ $tatj out of Jacob, 



times the walls are built up strong and thick, and 
twenty feet high ; with flanking towers, and loop- 
holes ; to defend the caravans and their rich treas- 




ure from the roving troops of Arabs or other ma- 
rauders. Such khans have much more elaborate 
accommodations, and look in the distance like a 
small fortress. 

6 Passing in through a great arched gateway, the 
traveller enters a wide open court, that is maybe a 
hundred yards square, and as full of noise and bus- 
tle and confusion as it is possible to imagine. On 
one side stand a long row of camels, jingling their 
it tie bells ; on another are horses and mules 5 some 



Bethlehem, 97 

tied; some running loose, and kicking and biting to 
suit their own fancy. Mingled and mixed up with 
these, and filling the court, is a crowd of people, — 
muleteers and camel drivers and pedlers and mer- 
chants, dressed in all dresses and speaking all 
tongues. In the centre of the court is the well ; 
or sometimes a long raised platform, while the 
well is at one end ; and on this platform the men 
sit and smoke and talk, or even sleep, in the mild 
summer nights. All round the sides of the court 
runs another platform, on which are the lodging 
rooms, with a sort of arched piazza in front of 
each ; and as the partition walls come quite out to 
the edge of the piazza, it is divided into as many 
small open spaces as there are enclosed rooms. 
Each traveller has for his own use the bit of piazza 
in front of his room, as well as the room itself; and 
in fine weather he lives out here much of the time, 
just using the room as a lock-up place for his goods. 
This platform is raised up three or four feet above 
the court/ 

' I can see how it is,' said Cyril, looking at the 
picture. ' I can see the archways, and the people, 
and all.' 

1 Back of these rooms,' said mamma, ' between 
them and the outer wall of the khan itself, but 
down on the level of the court, is a long arched 
gallery of stables. You see it runs along the out- 
side of the khan, looking a little like a long shed. 
Into this shed or gallery, the floor of the platform 
extends out a little way, beyond the back wall of 

7 



38 <§>hs $taj} out of laoob. 

the rooms, making a sort of shelf all along ; and 
as the side walls of each room are carried out here 
just as they are in front, only not so far, the head 
of each stall becomes a sort of shallow recess, with 
this shelf or bench at the end. Here the muleteers 
lodge in bad weather, and the poorer sort of travel- 
lers ; or indeed any sort, when the inn is full : the 
broad shelf serving to hold the mule's bag of corn, 
and also as a place of rest for the rider.' 

6 What a horrid place ! ' said Mabel. ' Mamma, 
how are the real rooms furnished ? ' 

6 Not at all, — the khan supplies nothing but 
water and shelter : unless here and there a new 
one, with " modern improvements." The traveller 
spreads his carpet, or his bed if he have one, and 
the room is furnished. There had been one of 
these khans at Bethlehem from very early times, — 
" the habitation" — or hostel — "of Chimham," as 
it is called by Jeremiah ; for rich men sometimes 
built them, as well as monarchs and town authori- 
ties ; and probably enough this was yet standing, 
or at least one in the same place. It was a very 
large inn — in Jeremiah's time it had held a great 
many people — but now it was crowded ; not only 
with the ordinary stream of travellers passing that 
way, but with all those of the house and lineage 
of David who had come up thither to be taxed. 
E\ery one of the little rooms was taken ; the open 
court was thronged with guests ; and the broad flat 
roof of the lodging rooms was covered with those 



Bethlehem. 99 

who had gone up there to enjoy the air or to sleep. 
" There was no room in the inn." 

* Joseph, I suppose, had journeyed slowly, for 
Mary's sake ; and as traveller after traveller passed 
him on the road, I can well believe that he began 
to feel anxious about this very matter of lodgings. 
Then as the day declined ; as the round shadows 
of the Judsean hills grew longer and deeper, and 
the heights of Moab shone in the setting sun ; we 
can guess how glad he was, when at last he turned 
the mule's head towards the great entrance of the 
habitation of Chimham. 

'We can imagine it a little,' mamma went on, 
speaking softly : ' we can think how Joseph led his 
charge through the archway into the open court, 
and then stood still, uncertain what to do. We 
can fancy how the people resting in their piazza 
rooms looked down on the new comers, and thought 
them hardly worth even a look. We can feel how 
she before whom an angel had bowed his head in 
salutation, waited in that noisy throng, while Jo- 
seph listened to those who told him there was " no 
room ; " and then how he took up the bridle once 
more, and leaving the court, turned off at one of 
the corner doorways into the long stable, and there 
found shelter for his wife in one of those shallow 
recesses that were but the leavings of other people'?, 
rooms. " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sake? 
he became poor." ' 



100 



t$h$ $taq out of Jacob, 



i Mamma ! — I don't like to imagine it/ said 
Gracie. 

1 To understand any place, any situation, in this 
world/ said our mother, i we must look up to the 
sky that is over our heads, as well as to the ground 
beneath our feet. Nothing can be seen in its true 
light if heaven be kept out of view, — the shadow 
of earthly glory is often up there, and the glory of 
mortal night. 







6 " There were in the same country " — in the lit- 
tle plain spread out at the foot of Bethlehem's hill, 
or in some of the wild valleys and hillsides of the 
wilderness of Judaea which lay yet further to the 
east — there were " shepherds abiding in the field, 
keeping watch over their flock by night." It was 
at that time of year when the flocks are abroad on 



Bethlehem. 10i 

the hills for pasture ; and instead of being securely 
shut in the fold, in charge of one shepherd and 
near home, they were out in the open starlight. 
Perhaps a hedge of tangled thorns was piled up 
round them, and a poor dog or two may have given 
that protection by a bark which he would hardly 
have done by a bite, — for Eastern dogs are worth 
little ; but the sheep's real defence was in the faith- 
ful band of shepherds. They kept watch. " And, 
lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the 
glory of the Lord shone round about them ; " and 
through the darkness of the night there broke such 
a flood of overpowering splendour as mortal eyes 
could hardly bear. " They were sore afraid." Bu+ 
using Gabriel's words, the angel — who was prob- 
ably Gabriel himself — said unto them : " Fear 
not." ' 

' It is always " Fear not," when they are telling 
about Jesus,' said Gracie, — i we are to be delivered 
from all our fears, mamma.' 

i Think how the shepherds must have listened 
then,' said mamma, \ when like cold waters to a 
thirsty soul there came this good news from the 
land that is very far off. Think how the deep 
music of those words must have sounded through 
the still night. Every other sound was hushed, 
every earthly voice was silent ; darkness and still- 
ness rested on the whole hill country of Judaea ; 
only in that one field near Bethlehem there shone 
the dazzling glory of the Lord. " Fear not : be- 
hold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which 



102 ^be $tat[ out of Jacob. 

shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day 
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the 
Lord." Children,' said mamma, leaning her brow 
on her hands, ' we have heard of these good tidings 
all our lives, until the most of the world forget what 
the words mean. It is only as the message comes 
anew to each repentant sinner, and it is said to 
him, u unto you is born in the city of David a Sa- 
viour " — that the great joy is really understood. 
Small comfort would it have been to the shepherds, 
little would it have stirred their hearts, to hear of 
the good tidings for all people : just as men now 
know that Jesus is the Saviour of the world, and 
care nothing about the matter. Joy comes into 
no heart that does not lay hold of the promise for 
itself. But I suppose these poor shepherds had 
long felt that they were sinners, had long prayed 
that the Deliverer might come ; and now it was 
said — not merely " to all people " — but " unto 
you." 

' " And this shall be a sign unto you," said the 
angel. " Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swad- 
dling clothes, lying in a manger." ? 

6 They must have been, very much astonished 
then/ said Cyril. ' They never could have guessed 
that the Deliverer would come in that way/ 

c But I guess it helped them not to be afraid/ 
said Sue. ' Because he was a baby then, and so 
poor. Mamma, were they just like my little 
clothes, that I had when I was a baby ? ' 

i Ah not a bit like/ said mamma : i a baby in the 



Bethlehem. 103 

East is tied up till it looks just like a small mum- 
my.' 

1 Tied up ! ' said Sue. 

' Yes, in swaddling clothes, to keep it straight. 
That is the notion. The child is bound round and 
round, from head to foot, with bands of purple and 
white linen — if it's a rich baby — till it is perfect- 
ly firm and solid, — a little hard, stiff bundle, with 
neither hands nor feet, but only a head. And the 
head is tied up too : sometimes in a soft shawl, 
bound across the forehead, or in a quilted silk 
cap, with bands across the forehead and under the 
chin. The caps are trimmed with gold coins. 
Then the little bundle is wrapped in a striped silk 
robe over all ; and looks like — you can imagine 
what ! ' 

i And the poor babies, mamma ? ' said Sue. 

' They are all " poor " babies, I think, to be in 
such a condition/ said mamma ; ' but when the 
parents are poor too, then the little child wears 
only the swaddling clothes ; and they are made of 
coarse blue cotton, bound round with narrow strips 
of red leather. At least I have seen such among 
the poorer Arabs. The rich baby, in its silk robe, 
is put to sleep in a splendid cradle, and half smoth- 
ered with silken quilts ; and the poor baby — now, 
as eighteen centuries ago — is merely wrapped in 
swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.' 

* How disappointed the shepherds must have 
been ! ' said Mabel. ' It sounded so mean to be 
sent to such a place.' 



104 3j5he $taij out of £acob. 

( Disappointed ! ' said Gracie, who had been in a 
trance of imagination and interest : i disappointed 
in Jesus ? no ! — Mamma, they could not have 
been ! ' 

Mamma's eyes flushed. { " It is enough for the 
disciple that he be as his Lord/' ? she said. ' No, 
they could not have been disappointed in him. 
Yet they may have wondered at first, or even 
doubted, for it is hard for mortal eyes to under- 
stand anything but mortal glory. Our sight often 
fails at the very moment when there is most to see. 
But just at that point — just at those words which 
have " sounded mean " to many a human ear, — 
the irrepressible joy of heaven broke forth. " Sud- 
denly there was with the angel a multitude of the 
heavenly host/' — a throng of the innumerable 
company of shining ones, — " praising God." It 
was not enough to praise him in heaven ; but here 
on earth — here where their Lord had come to be 
"made a little lower than the angels for the suffer- 
ing of death/' — here suddenly was heard that 
burst of joy and triumph and praise, the music of 
which shall ever sound, high and clear, above. all 
the discords of earth. " Glory to God in the high- 
est, and on earth peace, good will toward men." 
The King of glory, the Prince of peace, had come. 
Four thousand years had passed, since by one man 
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, — 
four thousand years of wars and fears and pain and 
sorrow; of delayed hope, of eager longing. But 
now at last was fulfilled that promise, " The moun- 



Bethlehem, 105 

tains shall bring peace to the people ; " and among 
the wild hills of Judsea was born that day a Saviour. 
How few welcomed him then, — how few receive 
him now ! But " hope of Israel, the saviour 
thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be 
as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man 
that turnetli aside to tarry for a night ? " } 

The children sat hushed and grave, for a min- 
ute, — then little Sue broke the silence. 

' I should have been real sorry when the angels 
went away, if I'd been the shepherds/ said Sue, 
twining her arms round mamma's neck. 

i Nay, those who find Jesus need not grieve over 
the departure of angels/ mamma answered. c And 
so the shepherds said one to another, " Let us go 
even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which 
is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known 
unto us." ' 

6 1 don't see how they knew where to look, mam- 
ma,' said Mabel. ( The angel just said " in the 
city of David." ' 

i And " in a manger," ' said Gracie. 

'And those two things were just enough,' said 
mamma. i If we went into a city to look for some 
stranger, we should first of all search in the hotels 
and public houses ; and so I suppose did the shep- 
herds. They crossed the plain, and climbed the 
Bethlehem hill, and went with haste to the great 
inn. And when there, they had no need to ask 
any questions, no need to inquire at any of the 
room doors, — the manger could be in but one 



106 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

place. So when they entered the broad gateway, 
they doubtless turned at once into the long gallery 
behind the inn, passing on from stall to stall ; until 
in one of the small recesses — no larger, no better 
than all the rest, they found Him whom their souls 
sought. " They found Mary, and Joseph, and the 
babe lying in a manger." Perhaps, as some of the 
old painters fancied, there was a visible light and 
glory shining all around the child, and so they 
were the quicker guided to the spot.' 

' Was the manger like ours in the barn ? ? said 
Sue. 

6 1 do not quite know/ answered mamma. ' It 
might have been merely that platform shelf at the 
end of the stall; to which the animals were tied, 
and on which their provender was laid; or there 
may hava been such a manger as the people in 
Palestine often make now, — a sort of box or 
trough, either chiselled out of a solid stone, or 
built up with smaller stones and mortar. Such 
mangers there sometimes are, both in the stable 
of a khan, and in the houses of the people. For 
in many of those strange Palestine dwellings, the 
principal room belongs to the family and the cattle, 
in about equal proportions. The floor of the family 
side is raised two or three feet above the rest, till 
it is nearly on a level with the heads of the horses 
and mules ; but there is no partition ; and when 
the animals are all away, the mangers are often 
cleaned out, and then used as a crib for the chil 
dren. Something of this kind, filled with soft fod* 



Bethlehem. 10'* 

der, may have been in the stall, but I cannot tel] 
you exactly, because the Bible does not tell as. 
The crowds of people in the inn were sleeping, 
and talking, and telling tales, according to their 
fancy; knowing nothing, heeding nothing of that 
wonder which had come to pass. So it was then, 
and so it is now, — the world goes on its own way 
of business or pleasure, and it is but a few here 
and there who give ear to the good tidings and 
seek to find Jesus.' 

1 Mamma/ said Gracie, c don't you suppose the 
people did attend and believe, when the shepherds 
told them ? ' 

1 They heard, no doubt : the shepherds could not 
keep that great joy to themselves : but the Bible 
says only, " they that heard wondered." A great 
many people content themselves with wondering. 
They like to hear good news, it interests them, but 
they do not act upon it. Only Mary, that we are 
told, kept all these things, and pondered them in 
her heart. And without that heart-pondering, 
even news from heaven is of no avail. 

c Glorifying and praising God for all the things 
that they had heard and seen, the shepherds went 
back to their flocks, — the knowledge, the sight of 
Christ should only make us more diligent in busi- 
ness ; — and the most wonderful night this world 
has ever seen, or shall ever see, was over/ 



ef)#* mil 

THE PRESENTATION. 




t f f said Gracie, as we came round 
the table the next afternoon, 'it seems 
so strange to me that the morning after 
that wonderful night should have been just like all 
other mornings, — and yet I suppose it was/ 

6 Yes/ said mamma, 6 we have no reason to be- 
lieve anything else. The little town of Bethlehem 
wore no holiday dress ; the hills and the sunshine 
and the birds, were bright with only their every-day 
beauty. All over the world men were sacrificing 
to idols, and striving for conquest, and fighting — 
" kingdom against kingdom ; " and though He had 
come "whose right it is," he who "must reign till 
he hath put all enemies under his feet," no one 
knew it but a mere handful of poor believers. 
The kingdom of God came not with observation. 
Even the Lord's ancient people — " whose were the 
promises" — yet looked for their fulfilment in the 
coming- of a Deliverer who should bring national 
glory, not personal salvation, to Israel ; and were 
not ready to receive him in an}' other way. But 
the angel had said to Joseph, " Thou shalt call his 



^he #t|e$entation. 109 

name Jesus : for he shall save his people from their 
sins." ' 

1 Was that a new name too ? ' Mabel asked. 

* No, it is only the Greek form of the old Hebrew 
name, Joshua. Joshua was a great type of Christ, 
— the leader and captain of the Israelites when 
they passed out of the desert into the land of Ca- 
naan ; and for some such leader as he had been, the 
Jews hoped now. But they shaped the promised 
blessing according to their own wish and fancy, 
and so could not recognize it when it came. Just 
such a Deliverer should the Lord Jesus indeed be ; 
but all in a heavenly, spiritual sense. No visible 
triumphs, no earthly greatness, did he promise his 
people : but he came to be the captain of their sal- 
vation ; he came to lead the true Israel — both 
Jew and Gentile — out of the wilderness of wan- 
dering ; to fight for them and with them against 
all the hosts of hell ; to lead them by faith over the 
river of death, and into the promised land on high. 
" Jesus " means "a Saviour" — or "the help of 
Jehovah," — "I have laid help on one that is 
mighty," said the Lord by his prophet : and now 
" when eight days were accomplished for the 
circumcising of the child, his name was called 
Jesus." f 

6 And nobody took any notice/ said Gracie. 

'Well there was not really so much to attract 
people's attention, just at first/ said Cyril. 

( Very little/ said mamma, i except to that faith 
which catches the least token of God's covenant- 



110 ^he $ta*t out of Jacob. 

keeping love. Faith is quick sighted, and traces 
out her way through the wilderness by even a bent 
leaf or a broken twig ; following the steps of Him 
in whose path not the smallest thing is without a 
meaning. But the eye of sense misses all these 
sure indications of the Lord's work, ever seeking 
for a cleared road and a great highway ; for some 
visible splendour, for outside greatness. And so 
after all the report of the shepherds, and all the 
wondering that followed, most people could see 
nothing in that manger at Bethlehem but an ordi- 
nary Jewish child. " A root out of a dry ground," 
to some ; but to others, u the Branch of the Lord, 
beautiful and glorious;" such was the Redeemer 
of the world, even from his birth.' 

'It's strange, too,' said Cyril. 'I should have 
thought he would be such a splendid child, mam- 
ma, that people could not have helped seeing, — 
whether they liked it or not.' 

i " Thy holy child Jesus," ' — Gracie repeated 
softly. 

( Yes,' answered mamma, e that most exquisite 
of all beauty the Lord had, for he was without sin. 
No other baby's face was ever heavenly like his. 
We talk of the pure faces of our little children, be- 
fore they have grown up to know and to practise 
sin ; but Jesus was " of purer eyes than to behold 
iniquity : " nothing in his mind would ever answer 
to it, nothing in his heart but would always turn 
from the very thought of it. There is no such 
child in the world now,' said mamma with a little 



t$h$ 3?i|6$entation. Ill 

sigli v and folding Sue's small hand in her own. 
' But in every other part of his human nature the 
Lord was just like the little ones he came to save. 
"When the fulness of time was come, God sent 
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the 
law, to redeem them that were under the law." In 
every age, in every way, in every point, God's crea- 
tures had broken his law ; they had disobeyed, they 
had slighted it : but now Jesus came to honour and 
fulfil that law to its least particular in his life, and 
by his death to bear its penalty ; that his obedience 
might be accepted for us, and his life-blood pay our 
life-ransom. And as to do this work " it behoved 
him in all things to be made like unto his breth- 
ren," therefore "he took not on him the nature of 
angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham," 
and was born with all the weakness and infirmity 
of every other child. He " bore our griefs, he car- 
ried our sorrows," — there is no trouble nor suffer- 
ing of any sort in even a child's little life, which 
Jesus does not understand. We may tell it all to 
him : grown-up human people may forget how a 
child feels, but Jesus cannot/ 

1 Though it's such a great, great while ago — ' 
said Sue, looking up wistfully in mamma's face. 

' Jesus never forgets,' mamma answered softly. 
4 He was to stand for us, to be our substitute, and 
so he began his life on earth as we all do. So to 
even the outside ceremonies of the law he was 
obedient, and submitted to the sign of the cove- 
nant God made with Abraham. He was circum- 



112 $he $tatj out of Jacob* 

cised the eighth day, receiving his earthly name 
then ; just as children do now when they are bap- 
tized. 

6 For a month after this, the Bible tells us noth- 
ing about Bethlehem. Everything, I suppose, 
went on in its usual way, and people even ceased to 
wonder at the strange things they had heard, and 
never watched to see what might follow. Only 
Mary kept all in her heart, waiting for the fulfil- 
ment of all the Lord's great promises ; and very 
careful, the while, herself to fulfil all his least com- 
mandments. So when the forty days were ended, 
Mary and Joseph took the young child up to Jeru- 
salem, to present him to the Lord ; according to 
that word of the Lord which had been long ago 
spoken by Moses. For as a confession that she 
was a sinner, and that her child was a sinner by 
birth, every mother among the Jews was ordered 
to appear before the priest when the baby was a 
few weeks old, and to offer a sin offering. Those 
that were rich brought a lamb and a turtle dove ; 
but the poor only a pair of doves, or two young 
pigeons. This was all that Mary could afford.' 

i But her child was not a sinner/ said Mabel. 

' He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh/ 
said mamma, ( and as a man he came of a sinful 
race. So his mother must offer her sacrifice ; and 
as this child was her first-born, he must be pre- 
sented in the temple, and solemnly bought back 
or redeemed. Long, long before this time, when 
the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, the Lord 



(fxhe Jfyesontation. 113 

slew all the first-born of the Egyptians to set his 
people free ; and as a sign and remembrance of 
that, every first-born of man or beast among the 
Jews was declared to be the Lord's only. The 
clean beasts were sacrificed, the unclean were re- 
deemed or else killed, — not in sacrifice, but as cut 
off from man's use, — and every first-born child 
was redeemed with a sum of money. This might 
be done when the child was a month old, or might 
be delayed yet ten days longer, until the mother 
went to offer her sacrifice. " Made under the 
law," ' — mamma repeated thoughtfully, — ' we 
have to study those words a great deal, to under- 
stand such strange things ! A sacrifice presented 
for the birth of Him who came to take away sin ; 
the Eedeemer of the world bought back with a 
sum of money.' 

' I should think Mary would have been afraid to 
do either one or the other/ said Mabel. ( Because 
she believed who her child really was..' 

6 It is not faith, but presumption, which decides 
when — and when not — it is for God's glory that 
he should be obeyed,' answered mamma. ( Faith 
is very humble ; very sure that God knows best, 
and never afraid to follow his word exactly. It 
asks no stronger reason than this : " Thus saith 
the Lord." Faith takes it upon trust that " the 
law of the Lord is perfect ; " and according to the 
law of the Lord, Mary now went up to Jerusalem. 

* I cannot tell you what loveliness as well as glory 
there is to me, about all that little journey. Mary, 
8 



114 ^be $tat| out of Jacob* 

very likely, riding upon a mule, as she had done 
when coming from Nazareth ; and Joseph on foot, 
carrying the money, and probably too a basket with 
the turtle doves ; and in Mary's arms that child at 
whose name every knee shall bow. " The Lamb 
of God " — " The Lion of the tribe of Judah : " 
Jesus, " the help of Jehovah," the Saviour of the 
world ! Truly, " it is the glory of God to conceal 
a thing," and " his thoughts are very deep." 

6 The road from Bethlehem winds round the head 
of a long valley that stretches off eastward, towards 
the Dead Sea; then mounts up and up to the 
crest of another ridge which overlooks the valley 
of Eephaim ; and there, to the north, " one sees 
the white line crowning the horizon, and knows 
that it is Jerusalem." Then down into the plain 
again, and along this, until suddenly the road de- 
scends into the deep ravine of the Valley of Hinnom, 
mounts swiftly up on the other side, and passes 
16 through the gates into the city." 

* If you look again at our plan of the temple/ 
said mamma, opening the book, 'you will see that 
next to these great open cloisters, or colonnades, 
the first court is that of the Gentiles. Here might 
come all foreigners and strangers of every nation, 
but none but Jews might go any further. Be- 
tween this court and all the rest of the temple, 
was a beautiful marble screen or barrier, four feet 
and a half high, made like a balustrade ; and upon 
it here and there stood little marble pillars, graven 
with inscriptions in Greek and Latin, forbidding 



(?he ^esentation. 115 

any one but a Jew to pass beyond, upon pain of 
death. Beyond this balustrade was the wall divid- 
ing the court of the Gentiles from the court of the 
women, with a great gateway of entrance. A few 
steps led up to this ; and on the other side of the 
court of the women, fifteen steps more led to the 
wall and gateway of the court of Israel. 

* Across the court of the Gentiles went Mary and 
Joseph, with the child Jesus ; then up the two or 
three steps, and through the magnificent gateway 
or portico into the court of the women — or the 
outer court ; for the court of the Gentiles was not 
held to be really within the temple. The court of 
the women was small, extending only across one 
side of the temple ; but it did not belong to the 
women alone. Men came there with their wives, 
and others who had brought no offering, as well as 
all the women of Israel ; and the women could 
never go beyond this court, unless when they were 
to offer a sacrifice. Never had Mary gone further 
than this : but now, she passed through the court 
of the women, then up three or four steps to a sort 
of circular platform, and from there by fifteen steps 
more to the next gateway, which opened into the 
court of Israel/ 

1 1 don't understand about these gateways/ said 
Cyril. c You speak of them as if they were places 
— not mere entrances.' 

i So they were/ said mamma ; ' for over each was 
built a great gatehouse, with a space of forty or 
fifty feet within, and side rooms built up like towers. 



116 t$hz $taq out of Jacob, 

This one that led into the court of Israel had fold- 
ing doors that were sixty feet high, so that it took 
twenty men to open and shut them ; and the doors, 
with the posts and lintel, were of bronze, overlaid 
with thick plates of gold and silver. 

'In this great gateway Mary paused. Before her 
lay the inner court — the court of Israel ; set apart 
for the men alone ; and within that, surrounded by 
a low dividing wall, was the court of the priests 
and the great brazen altar. Still further on, she 
could see the temple itself, and the golden glitter 
of its first entrance way. She stood still, not ven- 
turing to approach nearer, yet holding in her arms 
Him who should make an end of sacrifices, and take 
away the veil from the mercy seat, and make mani- 
fest the way into the Most Holy Place : by whose 
blood all — both Jews and Gentiles, men and wo- 
men and little children - — should have boldness to 
enter in. 

6 And now one of the priests came forward, clad 
in his long white robe ; and taking the doves from 
her hand, he went back into the court of the priests 
and stood by the brazen altar. He chose one of 
the two for a sin offering, and wrung its neck, and 
sprinkled of its blood upon the side of the altar, 
wringing out the rest of the blood upon the ground 
at the altar foot. It was a sin offering.' 

c Mamma/ said Gracie, ' did Mary know then of 
that other blood of sprinkling which all this signi- 
fied V 

' Not clearly, as we do, I think. But every Jew 



Sj5he ifyesentation, 117 

knew that without shed blood there could be no 
remission of sins ; and all the believing ones looked 
forward to some better atonement than the blood 
of their daily sacrifices, and took that as a mere 
sign. The priest took the second dove, and wrung 
its head quite off, laying that upon the altar fire ; 
and he wrung out the blood at the foot of the altar, 
and plucked away the crop and the feathers, cast- 
ing them upon the ash heap. And then cleaving 
the bird, but not dividing it in two, he burnt the 
whole upon the altar : " a burnt sacrifice, an offer- 
ing made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the 
Lord." ' 

c That is such a strange expression,' said Cyril, — 
' and yet I've seen it often in the Bible. How was 
the savour sweet, mamma? I should think it 
would have been very disagreeable/ 

1 Sweet, for what it signified/ said mamma. 
c Sin is hateful in the Lord's eyes, and disobedi- 
ence and unbelief he cannot away with. But when 
Noah after the flood offered burnt offerings, ac- 
knowledging God's justice, beseeching his mercy, 
promising to do his will ; " the Lord smelled a 
sweet savour." Almost all the sacrifices were in 
one sense burnt offerings, but their meaning was 
different. There was the simple sin offering : 
there were " the sacrifices of joy " — the thank* 
offerings ; and there was the burnt offering proper 
— " the sacrifice of righteousness." For while the 
first meant only atonement for the sinner ; and the 
second was a joyful acknowledgment of mercy ; 



118 $he jjftan out of Jacob* 

the burnt offering was an offering of obedience, of 
dedication. The whole of this sacrifice «was con 
sumed, — the whole was laid on the altar and 
ascended to God ; for the Hebrew word is one that 
signifies " ascends." Abraham was commanded to 
offer up Isaac, not as a sacrifice for sin, but as a 
burnt offering of obedience. And God said unto 
him, " Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing 
thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, 
from me." So tha apostle says: "I beseech you 
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice : " so 
Jesus gave himself for us, " an offering and a sac- 
rifice to God for a sweet smelling savour ; " making 
not only a perfect atonement, but yielding also 
perfect obedience. The first dove was the sin offer- 
ing, its blood only was wanted : the second was the 
sign of obedience and consecration, and it was all 
laid on the altar. There must be no divided heart 
in serving God, — the burnt offering was always 
consumed whole. 

c After this, another priest came forward and re- 
ceived the child Jesus into his hands, and asked 
Mary if this was her son. And when she answered 
yes, he said, "Have you never had any other 
child ? " — and she said no. " If so," said the 
priest, " this child as the first-born belongs to me. 
If you desire to have him, you must redeem him." 
And Joseph, holding out a cup with money in it, 
answered : " This gold and silver is offered to you 
for that purpose." 

' Then the priest, turning towards all who might 



^he presentation. 119 

be within hearing at the time, said : " This child; 
as the first-born, is therefore mine, according to 
this law, — i all the first-born of man among thy 
children shalt thon redeem/ — but I am content 
with this in exchange." And giving back the child, 
he took from the cup five shekels, the redemption 
price/ 

1 What's a shekel ? > said Sue. 

c An old Jewish coin. These five shekels were 
worth two or three dollars of our money.' 

6 So little ! ' said Mabel. 

1 It was only a sign, you know. We can give 
the Lord no real price for anything, — we can but 
shew our obedience, and acknowledge that we owe 
what we can never pay/ 

6 But, mamma, here's another thing/ said Cyril : 
1 1 don't understand this sign at all. Why did 
they want to buy back their children from the 
service of the Lord ? ' 

' Not from his service, certainly, in one sense,' 
said mamma. 'But from any special, set-apart 
service, which would prevent their engaging in 
common worldly business. Instead of that, God 
chose out the whole tribe of Levi, to serve in their 
place ; and the first-born of all the other tribes, 
being redeemed and having a substitute, were re- 
leased from all special service ; either as priests, or 
in any business closely connected with the priest's 
office. 

6 Now there was in Jerusalem at this time, a just 
and devout man named Simeon, — one who waited 



120 ^he $tati out of Jacob. 

for " the consolation of Israel ; " according to the 
words of the prophet Isaiah : " Comfort ye, com- 
fort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye com- 
fortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her 
warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is par- 
doned : for she hath received of the Lord's hand 
double for all her sins." For him who should make 
an end of sins, Simeon was watching ; and it had 
been made known to him by the Spirit of God that 
he should not die until this his desire was fulfilled. 
And now, "when the parents brought in the child 
Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law," 
then Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed 
God, — gave him thanks and praise, — for this 
great joy. Simeon had not a wish left, not a doubt 
unanswered : " For/' said he, " mine eyes have seen 
thy salvation." ' 

6 But wouldn't he have been saved if he had 
never seen Jesus ? 9 said Sue. 

? yes/ mamma answered, ' for he had heard 
about him, and believed : Simeon had seen the 
Lord by faith, long before this. People were 
saved in thai way before Jesus came down to 
earth, just as they have been ever since he went 
back to heaven. But no beautiful Gospel story 
had been written then, Sue ; the blood which 
cleanseth from all sin had not been shed ; and the 
sure promise of God in which believers trusted, yet 
seemed dim and afar off. They longed to see the 
salvation — the means of salvation — which the 
Lord had prepared. So Jacob, near two thousand 



^he indentation, 121 

years before, could say : " I have waited for thy 
salvation, Lord ! " So David, in the fulness of 
his heart, exclaimed : " Oh that the salvation of 
Israel were come out of Zion ! " For the Lord's 
promise was " I will place salvation in Zion " — 
u Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy sal- 
vation cometh." ' 

' ITo wonder Simeon was glad ! ? said Gracie, 
1 mamma, what joy ! 9 

c And Simeon rejoiced not for his own sake only, 
but for all the world. He took no narrow view, as 
did many of the Jews, — this was not to be a mere 
earthly deliverance, neither for them alone : now 
the message was — " Look unto me, and be ye 
saved, all the ends of the earth." This child, so 
unnoticed, was to be " a light to lighten the Gen- 
tiles," as well as u the glory of Israel." But it was 
a wonderful thought for a Jew to entertain. Hith- 
erto, for age after age, the knowledge of the true 
God had been almost entirely confined to the Jews : 
to them he had especially revealed himself. But 
now was come the fulfilment of that word of pro- 
phecy concerning the Lord's Anointed : " It is a 
light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to 
raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the pre- 
served of Israel : I will also give thee for a light 
unto the Gentiles, that thou may est be my salva- 
tion unto the ends of the earth." And as Joseph 
and Mary marvelled to hear such things, Simeon 
blessed them — that is, saluted them, gave them 
the ordinary greeting — " Blessed be ye of th« 



122 t$U $tat[ out of Jacob. 

Lord ; v and then went on to warn Marj against 
any doubtful thoughts, and to tell her through what 
reproach and gainsaying the work and the glory 
must be brought to pass. " Behold, this child is 
set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, 
and for a sign which shall be spoken against." As 
said the prophet Isaiah long, long before, — " He 
shall be for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of stum- 
bling and a rock of offence to both the houses of 
Israel." ' 

6 What does that mean, ma'am ? ? said Cyril, — 
* " the fall and rising again " ? ? 

6 It means/ said mamma, c that " the ways of the 
Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them : 
but the transgressors shall fall therein." " Unto 
you which believe, he is precious," said the apostle 
Peter; "but unto them which be disobedient, a 
stone of stumbling." And for Mary herself, who 
kept all these things in her heart, she indeed should 
see the glory, but should see it through tears of 
bitter grief. " A sword shall pierce through thine 
own heart also," said Simeon. For King of kings 
as Mary knew that child to be, yet in his human 
nature he was still her child and she his mother ; 
and she who at the promise of his coming had cried 
out with joy : " My spirit hath rejoiced in God my 
Saviour : " she should see the work finished, stand- 
ing amid the darkness by the death cross of her 
Son. 

' There came in/ said mamma, steadying her 
voice, and drawing one long, deep breath, — ' there 



$he Jfymntation. 123 

came into the court at that instant, another of those 
who waited for the consolation, — one of the people 
to whom age is not weakness but glory ; who are 
as " a shock cf corn in his season." It must have 
been in the court of the women that Simeon met 
Joseph and Mary, for this new comer was a won: an ; 
Anna, of the tribe of Aser — or Asher — a widow, 
and very old ; but still a prophetess, one to whom 
the Lord spoke in special revelation. And she, 
serving him day and night, lived altogether in the 
temple. Now, coming into the court of the wo- 
men, she too gave thanks unto the Lord, and spake 
of him — told what she had seen and knew — to 
all those in the whole city of Jerusalem who looked 
for redemption. Seven hundred years before, God 
had said : " The Eedeemer shall come to Zion," — 
and from age to age one and another had answered : 
" I will wait for the Lord, and I will look for him." 
Now he had come. Now rang out in each believ- 
ing heart the glad words of the prophet Isaiah : — 
" Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up 
into the high mountain ; Jerusalem, that bringest 
good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength ; lift it 
up, be not afraid ; say unto the cities of Judah, Be- 
hold your God ! " > 

* That was splendid work to do/ said Cyril. 

6 It was, and it is,' said mamma. l That is the 
very work all those who have found Jesus must do.' 

'And now as then there are always some who 
are waiting for him/ said Gracie. 

6 Always : and those who are waiting for him 



124 (phe $tat| out of Jacob. 

are ready when he comes. So it was then, — so it 
shall be at his second coming : the longing and 
the fearing dwell close together, the trimmed and 
the untrimmed lamps stand side by side/ 




C^pfei* I J. 

THE WISE MEN. 

Ntfl&BIs now, mamma ? 9 said Cyril, the next 
afternoon. i We've got out of the temple, 
I suppose, — do we stay in Jerusalem ? ' 
6 No, we go back to the city of David, 
for so did Joseph and Mary : either to prepare for 
returning to their Nazareth home, or — as some 
think — to make arrangements for remaining at 
Bethlehem. Joseph was likely enough to wish to 
stay in the place where he had seen and heard such 
wonderful things, if only he could find work there. 

'It was in the days of Herod the king. Four 
thousand years had passed since the garden was 
planted in Eden for the first man and wdman ; and 
more than a thousand since David was anointed 
king over all Israel ; and seven hundred and fifty 
years since the building of Eome, — that great city 
which had now stretched forth her sceptre of power 
even over the Holy Land/ 

'Well what year was it, mamma? ? said Mabel. 
1 What year of our time, I mean, — I don't know 
much about Rome and David.' 

6 Why it wa,s &t the beginning of our time/ said 



26 ^h$ $ta*t out of lacob. 

Cyril. i That was the Christian era, and we date 
from that. So the days of Herod the king were 
1864 years ago.' 

' These last days/ said mamma. ' Herod had 
already reigned more than forty years ; and all the 
days of Herod the king were stormy and cruel. 
He was first made ruler over Judsea by Borne, 
then driven out by other invaders ; came back 
afterwards and reconquered the province, styling 
himself its king ; and since then had been trying 
in every way to make his throne secure. Some- 
times it was by seeking to please the Jews ; re- 
building and adorning their temple : sometimes 
by putting to death different members of his own 
family whom he suspected of wanting the crown. 
His wife and two sons perished thus, among the 
rest; and as he grew older, and became infirm 
and tortured with illness, cruelty was his pastime. 
Knowing that he had not very long to live, fearing 
perhaps that even this little remnant of his life 
might be cut short by some one of the oppressed 
people ; Herod seized and imprisoned a great many 
of the principal Jews, giving strict orders that the 
moment he himself should die, these men should 
all be slain. Thus the people would fear to kill 
him, and when at last his life was at an end, the 
land would be filled with mourning. For tyrant 
as he was, Herod did not choose to have it said 
that there were rejoicings at his death. In such 
days as these, our Lord Jesus was torn, — he who 
came to be Prince of Peace.' 



^he Mise Sen. 127 

i It's a great wonder the people were not glad tc 
see him/ said Cyril. 

i Mamma, wasn't anybody glad ? } said Sue, — 
' besides the shepherds, and the two people in the 
temple ? ? 

' It is one of the joyful, blessed things which we 
know,' said mamma, c that although so many disre- 
gard the Lord's word, and fail to observe his work- 
ing, yet that in every age — and perhaps in every 
country — there are always some who believe. 
They may have but little knowledge, their faith 
may be very dim ; yet towards that distant light 
which, like Christian, they but Ci think they see," 
their hearts are turned with the intensest longing. 
And this is one sense in which Jesus is called the 
Desire of nations ; for many a time people long for 
him, for something to supply their great need, be- 
fore they have ever heard his name spoken by mor- 
tal lips. So a poor African woman of one of the 
wild native tribes, interrupted the missionary in 
his first talk to them about the love of Jesus, ex- 
claiming : " Yes — I know that, — this is the One 
who spoke to my heart long ago." So a Hindoo, 
dragging himself along a weary pilgrimage to pro- 
pitiate some idol, with heavy irons fastened to each 
foot, stopped to hear the preaching of a white man 
at the street corner. And as he heard of Jesus, 
and of his precious blood, the Hindoo threw off the 
weights from his feet, and ended his pilgrimage 
there ; crying out : u This is what I want ! " Such 
things are found in many a heathen land ; and sq 



128 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

from the time that Jesus appeared upon earth, 
there began to come to him from all parts those 
whose weary hearts had been fainting for his salva- 
tion/ 

6 Like Simeon and Anna/ said Cyril. 

6 Yes, most of all from among the Jews ; but not 
from them only. " Now when Jesus was born in 
Bethlehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the 
king, behold, there came wise men from the east 
to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born 
King of the Jews ? " ' 

i From the east/ — said Cyril. ' That's pretty 
indefinite/ 

i The east/ said mamma, turning to her map, 
6 was a general name for all this region of country 
that lies east of the Holy Land : Mesopotamia, Chal- 
daea, Arabia, and Persia. Sometimes, too, it was 
used very indefinitely — meaning an unknown 
great distance in that direction ; for so the vast 
continent; of Asia stretched away towards the sun- 
rising, and no one knew how far. Idolaters lived 
there, and fire worshippers, and worshippers of the 
sun and moon : nations which having once had the 
knowledge of the true God, had yet forsaken him 
and lost it all/ 

6 1 should say these were very wise men, to leave 
such countries and come to find the King of the 
Jews/ said Cyril. 

< Yet you must not suppose these heathen people 
were like some we hear of now-a-days/ said mam- 
ma. ( Other things they knew, — it was only the 



t$h* «li$e Men. 129 

wisdom which is from above that they despised. 
They were no wild tribes, sunk in ignorance and 
barbarism, but were the oldest nations of the world ; 
the most civilized, the most learned. Solomon in 
the height of his glory was compared with them, 
and said to be " wiser than all the children of the 
east." To but one sort of learning were they indif- 
ferent — a they did not like to retain God in their 
knowledge ; n and so all their study and acquire- 
ments were laid at the feet of false gods, and these 
countries became in the sight of the Lord, " a 
region of darkness and the shadow of death," where 
the very light was as darkness. 

e Chief among all men at the courts of Babylo- 
nia and Persia, was a certain sect called Magi — or 
Magians : men who gave their lives to study and 
divination. They were astronomers, learned in all 
the courses and movements of the stars ; and they 
were astrologers too, — trying to read in the heav- 
enly bodies the destinies of men. In difficult 
times the king called upon them for counsel : they 
interpreted his dreams, they foretold success or 
failure to his enterprises ; and no sacrifice was 
thought complete, unless some of the Magi were 
present, chanting prayers. Daniel, you remember, 
when he was a captive in Babylon, was made chief 
of all the wise men ; for the king proved him to be 
" ten times wiser than them all." / 

i That was because God told him what to say/ 
said Gracie. 

'It is glorious to think of/ answered mamma, 
9 



130 $he $taq out of laoob, 

1 how even then, living at a heathen court, head of 
a band of heathen sorcerers, Daniel was yet a burn- 
ing and a shining light to the glory of the true 
God. His lamp never grew dim, even among the 
idolatrous damps and fogs of " that great city." 
And doubtless other lights were kindled at his, and 
others learned to look for the time when u Messiah 
should be cut off, but not for himself ; " and so for 
all the six hundred years since then, there had per- 
haps ever been some, even in those dark regions, 
who waited for salvation ; forsaking the worship of 
that visible sun which God himself had placed in 
the heavens, and watching to see the Sun of Right- 
eousness arise. And now when the time was fully 
come, " there came wise men from the East to Jeru- 
salem, saying, Where is he that is born King of 
the Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, 
and are come to worship him." ' 

6 But how did they know the time was come ? ' 
said Cyril. ' That puzzles me.' 

6 Why they saw the star, — it's plain enough,' 
said Mabel. ■ 

6 Mamma/ said Sue, c which star was it ? ' 

*■ To begin with the star/ said our mother, softly 
patting Sue's little hand, - we never saw one like 
it, Sue, nor ever shall. It was no common star, 
which may be seen every night, but that is about 
all we know. Many learned men have made out 
theories, and chosen stars, and said a great deal 
that was both curious and ingenious on the subject ; 
but nothing of it all seems to suit the Bible words. 



^be Miss ffim. 131 

It was " Sis star" — something which even as- 
tronomers had never seen before ; a brilliant, won- 
derful sign in the heavens of His coming, who is 
the light of the world. For nothing is too hard for 
the Lord/ 

1 What made people think of a star in connection 
with his coming, anyhow ? ? said Cyril. 

( That was an old, old tradition, dating back, it is 
supposed, even to the time of Balaam, two thousand 
years before. Balaam, himself a sorcerer from the 
East, was brought over by the king of Moab (with 
whom Israel was at war) to pronounce curses 
against their victorious hosts. And then, standing 
on some of those heights of Moab while Israel rest- 
ed in the plains beneath ; yet unable to speak one 
word about them which the Lord did not permit ; 
Balaam poured out blessings instead of curses ; fore- 
telling in prophetic words the future glory of Israel : 
and he said : " There shall come a Star out of Ja- 
cob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel." These 
words were always explained by the old Targums 
as one of the prophecies of the Messiah ; and so it 
became a current tradition among the Jews thac a 
star should be the sign of his coming. To that 
point indeed did this belief go, that an impostor 
who came, calling himself u the son of a star/' en- 
snared and led away the whole nation for a time. 
Doubtless Balaam's prophecy was reported among 
his own people too, the children of the East ; and 
sven from that far away time, it may be, there had 
been a constant watch kept; and wise men and 



132 ^bo $tim out of Jacob, 

star-gazers of the East were ever on the lookout for 
some token in the sky which should tell that the 
King of the Jews was born. And now at last these 
had seen the star, and were come to worship him 
who should bear the sceptre/ 

6 Did these men come from Babylon ? J asked 
Cyril. 

* We do not know, — the Bible does not tell ; yet 
some things in the story seem to prove that they 
must have come from a still greater distance, and 
that it was only at the end of a very long journey 
that they arrived in the land of Israel. As a mat- 
ter of course they bent their steps first towards the 
capital city of the land, to seek for its King ; and 
as if they had quite forgotten the powerful Edomite 
monarch who held the throne, they passed along 
the streets of Jerusalem repeating their strange 
question : " Where is he that is born King of the 
Jews ? " No one could be born King of the Jews, 
who was not of David's line ; but for four hundred 
and fifty years none such had been in Jerusalem, 
and only the Lord's promise kept the royal succes- 
sion unended. And now here were strangers come 
to announce that fulfilment of his word, which as 
yet his own faithless people did not know. The 
appearance of the wise men, their foreign dress, 
above all their questions, must have stirred men 
strangely : " all Jerusalem " was troubled. And 
not only Jerusalem, but her usurper king, as soon 
as the rumour reached his ears. Here was a new 
danger, and one very difficult to meet, for the sign 



$he ®ai$e mm. 133 

and the inquiries could have but one meaning. 
Herod had not lived among the Jews so long with- 
out knowing their expectation of the Messiah, — 
indeed numbers had refused, in the face of all per- 
ils, to take the oath of allegiance to him, for the 
very reason that they looked for their own King ; 
and now he had come. A new star to herald his 
birth, and the great ones of the earth already has- 
tening to pay him homage. Herod was troubled — 
and all Jerusalem with him.' 

e I should think Jerusalem would have been 
glad/ said Mabel. 

i People who live under a tyrant's rule/ answered 
mamma, c learn to dread any new stir or commo- 
tion ; as almost any one is sure to be the excuse for 
new deeds of oppression. And so in this case the 
fears of the Jews got the better of their faith ; and 
instead of welcoming the news, the glad tidings of 
great joy, they could think only of fresh cruelties 
on Herod's part : new executions, new imprison- 
ments, perhaps a new war. 

' Herod at once took counsel. Calling together 
the chief priests and scribes, — those head men of 
the nation who were most learned in the law and 
the prophets, — he demanded of them where Christ 
should be born. This King of the Jews, now so 
suddenly asked for, could be none other than that 
Messiah whom from age to age the prophets had 
foretold, — where should he be born ? in what part 
of the land was it declared he would make his ap- 
pearance ? this Christ, the Anointed King over the 



134 ^ba $ta*i out of laoob. 

house of David and the nation of Israel ? And the 
chief priests and scribes, well knowing, answered 
at once : " In Bethlehem of Judaea ; for thus it is 
written by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, in 
the land of Juda, art not the least among the prin- 
ces of Juda : for out of thee shall" come a Governor, 
that shall rule my people Israel." ' 

' Well there was some good stuff in them/ said 
Cyril, ( or they would never have dared speak so 
plainly to such a king.' 

1 Yet they were not of those who waited for re- 
demption in Israel/ said mamma : ' not one of them, 
so far as we know, set out to seek and follow their 
new B,uler. But even wicked Jews had great re- 
spect for the written law ; and the scribes, who had 
it in charge to read and explain to the people, took 
jealous care of every word and letter. I can imagine 
too, that to the proud Israelites there was great 
satisfaction in for once asserting their national 
glory, to the face of the tyrant who seemed to have 
them under foot. We are not thy slaves, king, 
— we are God's chosen people : and he will pro- 
vide us a Governor. For thus it is written.' 

6 Mamma/ said Grace, ' what does " the princes 
of Juda " mean ? Judah had but one throne.' 

' The local governors, those who were set over 
one city — or ten cities — sometimes bore that 
name ; and here it is transferred from the men 
to the cities they ruled. Bethlehem was "little 
among the thousands of Judah/' — one of the 
smallest of the governor-cities ; and yet from her 



$hs Miae Pfem. 135 

should come forth a Governor who should rule the 
whole. 

' Herod seems never to have doubted for a mo- 
ment the truth or authority of those words of the 
prophet, now declared to him. But I dare say he 
dismissed his council as if the whole matter were 
of very slight importance ; and then privately, lest 
others should see and follow his example, he called 
the wise men, and eagerly inquired how long ago 
the star first appeared. How long had this new 
Ruler been hid away in the kingdom ? how much 
time was there to do anything ? The wise men 
answered; and then Herod, his wicked plans already 
laid, sent them away to Bethlehem with a fair 
pretence : " Search diligently for the young child," 
he said ; spare no pains to find him ; and then bring 
me word, that I too may come and worship.' 

e The wise men must have thought they had 
come to a queer country/ said Cyril. ' Kept wait- 
ing all that time, and finding no one that even 
knew the King was born ; and then talked to 
secretly, and sent off alone to find him ! ' 

i But they must have been too happy to think 
much about that, now they were so near finding 
what they had sought so long,' said Gracie. 

' I don't see how they came to think they had 
anything to do with the King of the Jews, any 
way,' said Mabel. 

( They were of God's people Israel, strangers 
though they might be, and from a strange land,' 
answered mamma ; ( " for he is a Jew which is one 



136 J?be §fcM{ out of Jacob. 

inwardly ; " and the glad tidings were to all people. 
But I doubt if they felt very happy when they left 
the king. For their faith had been sorely tried. 
They had seen the bright star in their own eastern 
land, before they set out, and must have travelled 
on across the desert expecting to find the land of 
the Jews musical with rejoicings from one end to 
the other. But all was silent ; the people wore 
their every-day look of business or fatigue or discon- 
tent or sorrow ; the very capital itself was unmoved ; 
and as they went through the streets of Jerusalem 
putting their eager questions to one and another 
person whom they met, men gathered round them 
in groups — laughing, jeering, and disbelieving. 
Then they had speech of the reigning monarch, 
but even he had heard of no new pretender to his 
throne ; and now at last they were sent away from 
ruler and capital, and bid to go and search dili- 
gently to see if they could find the King of the 
Jews, in a little obscure town in the neighbouring 
hill country ! I can well believe that their faith 
had almost given way, — that they were well nigh 
ready to turn back to their own land and their 
idolatrous worship.' 

( But they didn't do it, mamma/ said Sue. 6 1 
guess God wouldn't let them.' 

' Those who are really seeking the Lord/ said 
mamma, i are sure to find him ; and never have 
their faith tried beyond what they are able to bear. 
" What man is he that feareth the Lord ? him shall 
he teach in the way that he shall choose." If we 



$he Mise $en. 137 

can see but one step before us, yet take that step 
in faith, God will clear a way for the second. 
" When they had heard the king, they departed ; 
and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went 
before them." They had seen nothing of it since 
they left their own country, but now it . appeared 
again. It was near nightfall when the wise men 
left Herod, — a whole day or more they had spent 
in fruitless inquiries, and now at evening they set 
forth to begin their search anew ; moving slowly 
along the hilly road towards the city of David. 
Half way between Jerusalem and the high ridge 
from which you go down into the Bethlehem val- 
ley, there is, in the very middle of the road, a 
spring. The water is cool and pleasant, and any 
day you may see women there with their pitchers, 
and get from them a draught of the fresh stream. 
This is the well of the Magi : for the legend says, 
that as they plodded doubtfully along towards 
Bethlehem, they stopped at this spring to drink. 
As they bent over it, dipping in hands or cups, sud- 
denly they saw reflected there the herald star which 
they had seen before in the east ; and looking up, 
lo, it was shining in the sky above their heads. 
" When they saw the star, they rejoiced with ex- 
ceeding great joy," — all doubt, all unbelief were 
gone : and rising up quickly they followed the star, 
which was not stationary now as they had seen it 
in the east, but " went before them, till it came and 
stood over where the young child was," f 
Sue clapped her hands, 



138 ?£he $iat[ out of Jacob* 

' Just over the very house, mamma ? ' 

'Just over the very house. And "when they 
had entered the house, they saw the young child 
with Mary his mother, and fell down, and wor- 
shipped him." ' 

6 Then it must have been a peculiar star, cer- 
tainly,' said Cyril, ' or they never could have recog- 
nized it so.' 

c Mamma, is that a true story about the spring ? ' 
said Gracie. 

< It is an old legend/ said mamma, — 'that is all 
I know/ 

i But I don't see why it says " in the house," ' 
said Mabel. * It was in the stable.' 

' Are you sure ? ' said mamma. ' It is well to 
be quite sure, before we venture to criticise even 
the smallest Bible words. You know as soon as 
the taxing was over, the crowd must have cleared 
away, and so there would be plenty of room in the 
inn itself. But I doubt if they were in the inn at 
this time. Joseph seems to have taken up his 
abode in the city of his fathers ; perhaps finding 
work more plenty there than it had been at Naza- 
reth ; and then he would have removed from the inn 
to some small house in the town where he could 
pursue his trade. But however that might be, and 
wherever the place was, the star came and stood 
over it, hanging its signal light above the house.' 

i If it had been at the A nn, they wouldn't have 
needed a guide, any more than the shepherds did,' 
said Cyril : ( they would have gone straight there 




^be Mise $ten. 139 

in the first place, to lodge and make inquiries. 
Well, mamma ? ? 

1 At this house — whatever it was — the wise 
men entered in. And there, with no royal robes, 
with no glittering train of servants, in something 
no finer than a carpenter's house, " they found the 
young child, and Mary his mother," — she was his 
only attendant : and they fell down and worshipped 
him, — prostrating themselves to the very earth 
before him, after the fashion of Eastern nations ; 
having no doubt that this 
was indeed the very King 
of the Jews/ 

'Did they fall quite 
down, mamma ? ' said 
Sue. 

1 Quite down. Some- 
times this prostration was sudden and complete at 
once ; but in cases of special ceremony, or of adora- 
tion, it was gradual ; the person falling first on one 
knee, and then bending lower and lower until his 
forehead touched the ground : as Abraham a fell on 
his face" when God talked with him. So they 
worshipped him ; and then opening their treasures 
— some precious load which they had brought with 
them on their camels — they presented unto him 
gifts, — a gift is the next mark of homage, after 
prostration. And in the East, nothing is done 
without gifts, — there are fifteen different Hebrew 
words to express this one thing: the one word 
meaning something given to an inferior, as by a 



140 tghs #tan out of Jacob, 

king to his subjects, and another something given 
by the subjects to their king, and so on. The 
criminal gives to the judge, and the debtor to the 
creditor; and without a gift no one in the East 
can be born, or married ; can either rejoice, or pay 
a formal visit, or make a bargain : and thus the 
wise men came with full hands before him who was 
born King of the Jews. " They presented unto 
him gifts : gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." ' 

' Well what was it they gave him ? ? said Sue, 
knitting her small brows at the hard words, and 
bestowing her emphasis with true childish irregu- 
larity. 

1 Gold, — you know what that is : and frankin- 
cense was a precious resinous gum from Arabia or 
India ; and myrrh another Arabian gum, said to 
come from a thorny acacia-like tree/ 

6 What strange gifts ! J said Cyril. 

6 No, the costly natural productions of a land were 
very often so used ; and the wise men brought the 
very two things perhaps most "generally held pre- 
cious in the East : gold, and perfumes. 

< They presented their gifts. And then God, 
who knows the secrets of the heart, sent them word 
in a dream that they should not return unto Herod. 
Their first audience of the King of the Jews was 
over ; they had found the desire of their hearts ; 
and now, wearied with their long journey, were 
asleep in the old khan, their camels tied before 
them. Doubtless they intended to return to 
Herod the very next morning ; but in their sleep 



$he m$z $en. 141 

God spoke to them and gave his orders, counter- 
manding those of the king ; and like true wise men 
they made haste to obey. Rising from sleep, they 
prepared to set out at once. An Eastern traveller 
does not undress for the night, or at most throws 
off but a single upper garment, so they were soon 
ready ; and in the open court of the khan, where 
there was neither gas nor lamp, the beautiful Beth- 
lehem stars looked down and gave their light. The 
camels were loaded and untied, and the men once 
more set forth. I suppose they had come by the 
great caravan route through Bagdad, and so down 
to Jerusalem from the north ; but now they depart- 
ed into their own country another way : passing 
down through Hebron, and across the desert to the 
head of the Persian Gulf, and so avoiding Jerusa- 
lem altogether/ 

'And didn't they ever see Jesus again?' said 
Sue. 

* I think not — till they went to heaven.' 

i Well that certainly is the strangest story ! ' said 
Cyril. ' The unbelief of the Jews, and the faith of 
these strangers ; and the star, and the dream, and 
all ! It's grand, but it's queer.' 

e Ah, mamma,' said Gracie, c I think people were 
very happy in those days, when they could go and 
find the Lord, and see him face to face ! ' 

' The promise stands yet,' answered mamma, — 
■ " Seek, and ye shall find." And then shall you 
see him. Not as he was here, in his humiliation ; 
not despised and rejected of men : but " thine eyes 



142 t$hz $ta*[ out of laoob* 

shall see the King in his beauty ; " with ten thou- 
sand times ten thousand angels round his throne. 
And for gifts, you shall cast your crowns at his 
feet.' 

'And then/ said Sue, drawing a long childish 
sigh, and folding her little hands together ; e then 
we'll never have to go away from him any more, 
for Herod nor anybody else.' 




HEROD'S VAIN THOUGHT. 

$0 couldn't dreams mean something now, 
mamma ? ' asked Mabel. 

; They might/ answered mamma, * be- 
cause all ways of teaching are still open to 
the Lord ; but now that we have the written word, 
now that " in these last days he hath spoken to us 
by his Son/' visions and dreams and prophecy, and 
the open ministry of angels, seem to be laid aside. 
Angels do their work still, but we do not see them ; 
and God speaks to us, but it is silently in our 
hearts ; and though he leads us every minute, and 
guides every step of our way, there is no pillar of 
cloud or of fire before our eyes. Our life now is by 
faith and not by sight. 

6 But in those old times it was different. Hardly 
had the wise men taken their departure, in obedi- 
ence to the command from heaven given in a dream ; 
the soft, noiseless tread of their camels was maybe 
even then passing down the Bethlehem slope ; when 
another sleeper in the old town was aroused by a 
heavenly message. The angel of the Lord — per- 
haps the very same who had brought the magi 



144 ^he $tan out of Sacob, 

their orders — appeared to Joseph in a dream, say- 
ing: "Arise, and take the young child and his 
mother, and flee into the land of Egypt." No rest 
might he find, who had come to give his people 
rest : the changes to which their lives are subject 
came in full measure upon him ; at evening wor- 
shipped by the Eastern sages, and before dawn 
compelled to flee for his life. u Be thou there until 
I bring thee word," said the angel to Joseph ; " for 
Herod will seek the young child to destroy him." ' 

6 Foolish man ! ■ said Cyril, c to think he could do 
anything against the Lord's Anointed ! ' 

'The wisdom of the world is foolishness with 
God, and he taketh the wise in their own crafti- 
ness. Herod thought he had laid his plans so well, 
and behold God knew them all. Like the man in 
the cornfield, there was one direction in which 
Herod forgot to look/ 

' What man, mamma ? ' said Sue. 

'The man who went into a cornfield to steal. 
He looked this way and that way, to see if anybody 
was in sight, and then jumped over the fence and 
began to pick the corn. But his little boy re- 
minded him : " Father, there is one way you forgot 
to look, — you didn't look up." And so it was with 
Herod now, — yet the Lord was watching every 
thought and intent of his heart. God's servants 
may always trust the perfect knowledge of each one 
of his commands, — there cannot be the least mis- 
take in them. u Arise," said the angel — and Jo- 
seph arose, and took the young child and his mother 



$et[0<Ts Ymn ^bought 145 

by night — that same night, for there must be no 
delay — and departed into Egypt. Joseph and 
Mary needed all their faith, not to feel cast down. 
How strange it must have seemed to them ! this 
child, the King of the Jews, the Son of God, obliged 
to escape into a distant heathen land from the fury 
of an Edomite king. Could not God keep his own 
in some other way ? ' 

' Well why couldn't he ? ' said Mabel. ' It seems 
so, I'm sure.' 

6 Doubtless he could,' said mamma, i but if this 
had not been the best way, God would not have 
chosen it. A sufficient answer to all the unbeliev- 
ing questions which we ask about things that befall 
ourselves sometimes. They departed into Egypt. 
It was not needful to wait to get money for the 
journey, — the costly gifts of the wise men would 
amply supply all their need in that respect : the 
mule was tied at his manger under the same roof 
with themselves, after the fashion in poor Eastern 
houses ; Joseph had not even to go out of the 
house or speak to a single person until all was 
ready for the journey. Then silently they went 
forth by night, and before the day broke were well 
on their way towards Egypt. The road they took/ 
said mamma, opening the map, \ was probably this. 
First down the highway to Hebron, and then 
through the rocky passes of the hill country across 
to Gaza. There they might join themselves to 
some set of merchants going to Egypt, for in the 
East people generally travel in companies. Gaza 
10 



146 ^he $tat| out of Jacob. 

was a sort of frontier town, where the caravans took 
in their last supplies before entering the desert : 
here Joseph could buy a stock of provisions and 
whatever else was wanted ; and then, under guard, 
convey his precious charge along the sea-coast road 
through the desert, into the land of the Pharaohs.' 

i How far was it, mamma ? ; said Gracie. 

' It is three long days' journey from Bethlehem 
to Gaza, in the first place ; and then from Gaza to 
Cairo is two hundred and forty-eight miles, which 
at the slow rate of caravan travelling would take 
between two and three weeks.' 

' And did they go to Cairo ? ' 

4 Cairo was not built until six hundred years after 
that. But tradition says (and in this case it is 
probably true) that they went to a very ancient 
town called Heliopolis, about six miles — or two 
hours — from where Cairo now stands. A great 
many Jews lived in and about the city, while a 
whole Jewish towm lay some twelve miles to the 
northward. Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities 
in the world. Never a large place, by all accounts, 
but it was Egypt's city of learning — her Univer- 
sity ; and from the midst of its little cluster of 
houses rose up a magnificent temple of the sun, 
that was built when Jacob, the great head of the 
Jewish nation, was but a boy in his father's tent.' 

6 Mamma, what is a temple of the sun ? ' said 
Sue. 

' A temple built and set apart for the worship of 
the sun. Egypt had forsaken the Lord, and served 



$e*iod'$ ^ain thought. 147 

other gods ; and thus Heliopolis got its Bible names : 
On, the city of the sun, and Beth-shemesh — the 
house of the sun. Here Jacob's son Joseph found 
a wife, for Pharaoh gave him "the daughter of Pot- 
ipherah, priest of On : " here, according to Jewish 
writers, Jacob himself came to dwell, and Moses to 
be educated. And in later times Heliopolis was 
the birthplace of Pliny, and the school of Herodo- 
tus.' 

' But I wonder this Joseph did not go to the 
Jewish town, instead of that heathen place/ said 
Cyril. 

* He may have done so ; the two were not far 
apart, and the Bible says nothing about it. But 
the Palestine Jews were not very friendly to this 
Egyptian settlement, because the people had built 
a temple and appointed a priesthood of their own, 
to the forsaking of the one at Jerusalem. Howr 
ever, according to all the traditions, it was in or 
near Heliopolis that this Joseph took up his abode ; 
but of course tradition tells a great deal else. For 
instance, outside the city there is a strange, twisted, 
bent old sycamore tree, under which it is said the 
holy family rested on their way ; the tree miracu- 
lously bending down its branches to shelter them, 
and then miraculously living on until this day. It 
is called the Virgin's tree, even yet. And near 
by is the spring of " Ain Shems," a willow-shaded 
pool that once belonged to the great temple of 
On. Tradition says the water was salt at first ; 
but that when Mary came there with the young 



148 £pho $tat[ out of Jacob. 

mild to drink, lie commanded the spring to become 
sweet.' 

I Is it true, do you think, mamma ? J said Mabel. 

I I think not — nay, I am sure not ; for the Bible 
says that the beginning of the Lord's miracles was 
at Cana of Galilee, — so it could not have been here 
in Egypt. It is likely enough that he drank of the 
spring, and that the little party rested under some 
former tree in that same place.' 

i Mamma/ said Sue, ( who is tradition ? ' 

The children gave a great shout at this, all ex- 
cept poor Sue herself, who looked more demure 
than ever. But mamma said with her reassuring 
smile, — 

' Tradition is a great many people. History, 
you know, is a written account of people and events. 
But tradition is an account told by one set of per- 
sons to another, from age to age, without being- 
written down ; and often though the foundation of 
the story may be quite true, yet by the time it has 
been told and told a great many times, and for a 
great many years, it gets twisted and changed until 
there is no truth left. One person forgets a little 
here, and another — given to exaggeration — adds 
on a little there ; and so tradition is seldom to be 
trusted.' 

' I'll go to see that tree though, when I am in 
Egypt/ said Cyril. 'Is Heliopolis a learned city 
now, mamma ? 9 

6 It is no city at all. " He shall break the im- 
ages of Beth-sheraesh," said the prophet Jeremiah, 



$m|od'$ T^ain thought. 



149 



u and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall 
he burn with fire ; " and so it has been done. 
Where once Heliopolis stood is marked by low 




mounds of rubbish ; the place is a ploughed field 
and a planted garden ; and of the splendid temple 
of the sun but two relics are left. One is the pool 
of " Ain Shems," the former spring for the temple 
use ; the other is a solitary obelisk. See, here is a 
picture of the old place as it looks now. Once 
there were great buildings, and avenues of stone 
sphinxes, and numbers of obelisks here and there ; 
but this is the only one left ; and it is the oldest in 
the world. It rises up in the midst of the gar- 
dens, a shaft of red granite sixty-eight feet high 
above the pedestal ; and stands there looking off 
across the desert and the green fields of Egypt, to 



150 tphe $tai] out of Jacob. 

the distant Pyramids, as it did four thousand years 
ago. It saw the Midianites pass by with Jacob's 
favourite son Joseph, when his brothers had sold 
him into Egypt 5 it looked down afterwards on his 
splendid marriage procession ; and threw its long 
shadow across the sand when Moses fled from the 
face of Pharaoh.' 

6 Well there's no doubt I shall go to see that? 
said Cyril. 

6 Here then, to this region, we may suppose the 
fugitives came,' said mamma ; ( and here they abode 
until the death of Herod : " that it might be ful- 
filled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, 
saying, Out of Egypt have I called my Son." 

1 It is not very easy to make you understand 
these words, but I must try. The Israelites, 
you know, were in bondage in the land of Egypt, 
for a great many years ; and then God called 
them to come out of Egypt, and set them free. 
And this is a great type or image of the bondage 
of sin, and of the deliverance from it which only 
God can give. The true Israel, God's people in 
heart and not merely in outward name, they are 
all at first the servants of sin. But when they hear 
and obey the word of the Lord to come up out of 
that region of evil wherein they dwell, then — 
though they are poor and weak and fast bound — 
the Lord himself strikes off their chains and strikes 
down their enemies, and makes them freemen for 
ever. Erom that time he becomes to them, "The 
Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land 



$erjod'$ ymn ^bought, 151 

of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." And it is 
of God's love "to do this, as he said : u When Israel 
was a child, then I loved him : and called my son 
out of Egypt." Now our Lord Jesus, for whose 
dear sake all mercy and all deliverance comes, was 
made in all things like unto his people, that he 
might be a merciful and faithful High Priest for 
them ; that he might feel all their sorrows, and prove 
all their temptations, and touch with his atonement 
and his sympathy every step of the way that they 
must go. He could not suffer the bondage of sin, 
for in him was no sin ; but when he was a child he 
went down into the real Egypt, and passed through 
that bitter servitude in a figure. " In all their 
affliction he was afflicted." They were exiles and 
strangers in that land, far from their Father's 
house ; and he too went into banishment, the bet- 
ter to lead them home. 

( Meanwhile, Herod found out that he was mocked 
of the wise men. They had slighted his command, 
and not heeded his wish ; and were gone off into 
their own country another way. Herod was not 
used to being treated in that fashion, and he was 
" exceeding wroth," — not merely for the slight, 
but for its probable consequences. Clearly the wise 
men must have found what they sought, or they 
would have come back to get new directions 5 and 
perhaps they had guessed his intent, and had given 
warning, so that the young child was already be- 
yond his reach. If they had only brought back 
word to the king at Jerusalem, it would have been 



152 (She Jj>tmi out of Jacob. 

easy enough to have this young pretender to his 
throne put to death ; but the wise men with their 
guiding star had disappeared, and nothing was 
left for Herod but sweeping measures. " He sent 
forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethle- 
hem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years 
old and under." y 

( Mamma ! — how many ? ' said Sue, nestling 
her face against her mother's breast. 

'The number of children of that age is generally 
about one fifth of the whole population/' said mam- 
ma. l If then the people in Bethlehem numbered 
as many as they do now. there must have been 
more than a thousand of these little ones whom 
Herod slew.' 

1 But why did he kill children of two years old ? ? 
said Cyril. ' I thought this was just after the pres- 
entation in the temple.' 

i It would seem not/' answered mamma, l for it 
is said that Herod did this "according to the time 
which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." 
They lived far off. and must have been long on the 
way, so it was some time since the star first ap- 
peared to them ; and Herod had found out this with 
great exactness. Then his fears would make him 
go further than the real need. If it was more than 
a year since the star appeared, he would kill all the 
children that were two years old and under. And 
in the same way, it was not enough to do this in 
Bethlehem only, but it must be also in all the 
coasts thereof.' 



J^od's T^ain ^bought. 153 

6 1 was going to ask what that means/ said Cyril. 

i It means so much of the surrounding country 
and villages as belonged to Bethlehem. In the 
division of the land in Joshua's time, we read of 
" Gaza with her towns and villages — Ashdod with 
her towns and villages," and so on. Round about 
Hebron at the present day, are first open suburbs, 
then gardens and fields, with little watch towers 
where many of the people go to live in the summer 
time ; then beyond these are the dependent vil- 
lages, or u daughters of the city," as they are called. 
Sixteen such villages even now, in Hebron's fallen 
days, are under the rule of her Sheikh. Coast, is 
a Bible word for border, — the hills near Tyre were 
the coasts of Tyre and Sidon ; and so the " coasts " 
of Bethlehem were the neighbouring hills and val- 
leys, with their clustering hamlets and scattered 
houses. All over that fair portion of the hill coun- 
try, wherever there were little ones with their sweet 
voices and unsteady steps, there came Herod's exe- 
cutioners : catching the baby from its mother's 
arms, and the child of two years old from her knee, 
and leaving them slain at her feet ; until the sweet 
hillsides of Bethlehem and all the coasts thereof 
were strewed with withering blossoms.' 

But at that, there came such a pitiful childish 
sob from Sue's full heart, that mamma could not 
say another word ; and the room was in an utter 
hush. Then our mother spoke again, softly, and 
in the words of old Matthew Henry : — 

4 a These were the infantry of the noble army of 



164 (£be #taq out of Jacob, 

martyrs ; shedding their blood for Him who eaine 
to shed his blood for them." ? 

1 The first martyrs for Jesus ! — it is glorious to 
think of now/ said Gracie, brushing away her 
tears : ' but oh, then ! ' — 

i Then/ said mamma, ( we cannot even imagine 
what it was. The mother gone with her baby to 
the well, or teaching her little ones at the house 
door at home, or watching their play, or mounting 
the hill path with one in her arms and another 
holding fast to her dress, all bereaved in a moment ; 
and on the blood-stained floor, or the blood-sprink- 
led stones at the well, or the crimsoned path in the 
white limestone rock, only the lifeless forms of her 
darlings left. Here/ said mamma, her voice drop- 
ping again, ' in this Western world, people suffer 
silently ; and those who feel the deepest sorrow 
generally tell it the least. But with the people of 
the East all is outspoken ; and both men and wo- 
men •• lift up their voices and weep,*' in a way that 
we here have no conception of. I never heard any- 
thing like it anywhere else. ^Ve were at Tibnin, 
in the north of Galilee, and the Pasha had come 
there to draw conscripts for his army. It was a 
wild stormy day, the Pasha with his armed escort, 
and the Prince of Tibnin with his people, sat in a 
sort of upper balcony ; and down below in the open 
court were the men from all the region round about, 
among whom the lot was to be cast. With them 
were their mothers and wives — the women of the 
villages ; who had followed on foot through the pelt- 



$et[Otf$ Tain ^bought. 155 

big storm, and now stood without shelter, waiting 
to know the lot. All of them were breathlessly 
still, and only the wild voice of the storm could be 
heard. But when the names of the conscripts were 
drawn, and it was made known who were to go, 
there burst forth such a cry as I never heard, — 
moans and shrieks and exclamations of utter dis- 
tress.' 

t And I suppose that was the way at Bethlehem/ 
said Mabel. And our mother answered tenderly : 

1 Then was fulfilled the word of Jeremiah the 
prophet, "In Rama was there a voice heard, 
lamentation and weeping, arid great mourning, 
Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be 
comforted, because they are not." ' 

1 And the poor mothers did not know for whose 
sake their children were killed/ said Gracie. 

' No — they did not know/ said mamma with a 
long sigh ; ' and they did not know him as we do : 
so how they lived through that bitter wave, I can- 
not tea: 

i But what does " Ramah " mean ? ? said Mabel. 
* It ought to be Bethlehem/ 

* Some think that the cry was heard even as far 
as to Ramah, which is on the other side of Jerusa- 
lem ; and some that one of the stricken villages bore 
that name. But as the same word is used for a hill 
or high place, it may be no special name here., but 
only a general term for the region round about 
Bethlehem : so that we might read : " In the hill 
country was there a voice heard." This prophecy, 



156 ^be $tat[ out of Jacob. 

like many others, referred to more than one event. 
Rachel, you know, was Jacob's favourite wife ; and 
when she died he buried her close by Bethlehem, 
— her tomb is there to this day. Long after that, 
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded Pales- 
tine, and carried away captive great numbers of 
the Jews. The bands of prisoners were mustered 
and led forth from Eamah, and there it is said were 
many slain who were too old or too feeble for the 
journey ; but the rest were marched down past 
Rachel's tomb to their long weary captivity. * Many 
Benjamites were among them : and so in a double 
sense by a sort of poetical image, Rachel, the 
mother of that tribe, was said to weep over the loss 
of her sons and to mourn with her daughters, when 
the people were carried away out of their own land. 
This was the first fulfilment of the prophecy.' 

c Rachel wasn't the mother of many of the tribes/ 
said Mabel. 

i Of only two. But in the East the head wife 
takes the lead in all things. Rachel was Jacob's 
favourite wife, — and the Jews, of whatever tribe, 
call her " Our mother Rachel," to this day. Ra- 
chel's tomb is no longer the " pillar " which Jacob 
set up, but the site is unquestioned ; and the Mos- 
lems have built a little white tomb there, after their 
fashion, and on all sides there are Moslem graves. 
It may be that in former times, before the Mos- 
lems had possession, the Jews themselves used to 
bury there ; and if so, then these slain little ones 
were probably laid to sleep in the green valley 



$miot3'$ ymn ^bought. 157 

round Rachel's tomb ; and the poor mothers came 
to weep and lament near her who had once said : 
" Give me children, or else I die ! " They could 
not be comforted/ 

6 Well they ought to have been/ said Sue, c be- 
cause Jesus had taken their babies. And we'll see 
all those little children in heaven, mamma, won't 
we?' 

• Yes, they are all there/ said mamma softly, — 
6 all there before the throne/ But she broke off 
abruptly, fluttering over the leaves of her Bible as 
if looking for something she could not see. 

' Was Bethlehem a Benjamite city ? ' Cyril asked. 
1 no — I remember — it was one of the thousands 
of Judah.' 

6 It was close by the inheritance of Benjamin, — 
the boundary line between the two tribes ran just 
south of Jerusalem, crossing the Bethlehem road. 
But both tribes belonged to Judah as a kingdom.' 

' What sort of a place is Bethlehem now, mam- 
ma ? ' said Gracie. 

' It has passed through all sorts of changes since 
the days of Herod the king/ answered mamma. 
i Within a hundred years from the time when the 
surrounding hillsides echoed with that bitter cry, 
one of the Roman emperors planted a heathen grove 
on the very place where Bethlehem stood ; plough- 
ing up the ground and scattering the foundations. 
That was the Emperor Hadrian.' 

< What in the world did lie 4q suck ft thing foy ? ' 
mi. Cyril, 



168 $he $tat[ out of Saoob, 

i Out of hatred to Him who had been born there, 
I suppose. It was " the offence of the cross/' — a 
new thing then in the world, but of which the world 
will never again be free, until the Lord shall come 
in his glory. There too Hadrian built a heathen 
temple ; and the temple and the grove remained for 
a hundred and eighty years. Then about A. p. 
330, the Emperor Constantine cut down the grove, 
and tore down the temple ; building up instead a 
great church, which remains to this day, — proba- 
bly the oldest piece of Christian architecture in the 
world. An immense pile of buildings, altogether ; 
for joined to the church there are now three great 
convents, stretching out along the ridge of the hill. 
The nave of the church just shews faint traces of 
its old splendour. The Corinthian pillars are there 
yet, and the beams of cedar from Mount Lebanon ; 
but the gilding is worn off, and the mosaics are 
faded ; and the place and the services are all now in 
the hands of those who put themselves under use- 
less, ignorant bonds, when they might be the Lord's 
freemen. The old Church is full of lamplight in- 
stead of sunlight ; and the monks shew a marble 
manger and a stone cave, instead of the old inn of 
Chimham. And though they pretend that it 
stands on the very spot where the Lord was born, 
I think no one who really loves his name would 
wish to believe it. The cave of the Nativity, as it 
is called, is a grotto beneath the church altar, with 
steps leading down to it from either side ; but there 
ig nothing in the grotto itself, or the winding pas* 



#st[Od'$ T^ain thought. 159 

sage to it, or in the silver lamps and pictures and 
coloured hangings with which it is decked, to make 
one feel or believe that here was the manger where 
Mar j laid her first-born son, " because there was 
no room for them in the inn." All traces of that 
time have passed away. 

i The town is neatly built, very clean for an East- 
ern town, with houses of sparkling white limestone , 
and the sides of the hill are well terraced, and cov- 
ered with figs and olives and vines, their soft shad- 
ows toning down the white rock soil. It stands 
even higher than Jerusalem, — 2,400 feet above the 
level of the sea. On the west, down in the valley, 
is Rachel's tomb ; on the east a fertile plain where 
it is said the shepherds watched their flocks on that 
wonderful night. The people are lively and stir- 
ring ; the women very handsome, the men strong 
and spirited, very troublesome to their Turkish 
rulers.' 

' Are they all Jews ? ' asked Gracie. 

'Not one, — there are no Jews in Bethlehem. 
The people are almost all Christianized Arabs, 
of the Catholic, Greek, and Armenian churches. 
Many of them shepherds and husbandmen, many 
more carvers and makers of pretty trifles out of the 
Red Sea mother-of-pearl, and the coloured marble 
of Jerusalem, and olive wood, and asphaltum from 
the Dead Sea. The old enclosing wall of the city 
has been broken down, but there are gates at the 
entrance of some of the streets; the houses are-alj 



160 



$he $taq out of Jacob. 



flat roofed ; and along the hillside paths are little 
huts of unhewn stone, and roofed with branches, 
such as perhaps once filled " the coasts " of Bethle- 
hem.' 





Cfapfef 3EJ. 

NAZAMETH. 

]W$B children were busy with their Bibles 
when mamma came in, next day; grouped 
together in a stream of golden light that 
slanted in from the west. 
6 1 like those next words/ said Cyril, — ' " Now 
when Herod was dead." Such men ought to die.' 
' It was pretty bad for him, though/ said Sue 
gravely. ' But I guess it was good Herod couldn't 
go to heaven, because he'd have frightened the chil- 
dren.' 

6 Frightened the children ? ' said mamma, as she 
took her seat and drew Sue into her arms, — ' do 
you think anybody can be frightened where Jesus 
is, where they can see his face ? Why even in this 
world the little ones who believe in him need never 
be afraid. " He gathers the lambs with his arm," 
— either on earth, or else up to heaven.' 

Sue looked up shyly, with her deep, wistful 
glance ; but our mother's eyes grew dim and turned 
away. I think she had not got over the thought 
of the little ones at Bethlehem. 

6 How long did Herod live after he had killed the 
children, mamma ? ' said Mabel. 
11 



162 $he tftaq out of £acoK 

'But a few months, I believe. Yet the time 
must have seemed long to Joseph and Mary, wait- 
ing in Egypt, and knowing nothing of events in 
their own land : no daily papers full of reports, no 
mail every few hours to bring tidings. But the 
orders were plain: — -"Be thou there until I bring 
thee word : " and Joseph had only to obey them to 
the letter. And just as soon as Herod was dead, 
without waiting till some slow caravan should carry 
the news, there came the promised despatch from 
heaven. Joseph, far down in Egypt, probably 
knew of the king's death before half the dwellers 
in Jerusalem. An angel appeared to him in a 
dream as before, saying: "Arise, and take the 
young child and his mother, and go into the land of 
Israel : for they are dead which sought the young 
child's life." People never make mistakes when 
they do exactly what the Lord bids them, because 
he knows everything. When he says Go, they 
may set forth fearlessly, — when he says Stay, it is 
at their peril if they stir a step.' 

i I guess Joseph was glad that the Lord said Go, 
this time/ said Sue. 

' No one not a Jew can know how glad he was/ 
said mamma ; ' for to be out of the land of Israel 
and cut off from Jerusalem, was the most sorrowful 
thing in the world for a true son of Israel's race. 
We can just imagine a little with what longing 
eyes Joseph and Mary looked across the desert 
sand, beyond which, far out of sight, lay the moun- 
tain of the Lord's house and the sweet hill country 



^azaqeth. 163 

of Judah. With what glad haste did they arise 
and prepare for their going home, when at last 
the command came ! and then they journeyed on 
their way, following the desert road in its windings, 
until they had crossed the river boundary line of 
El Arish, and were in Judah's land once more. 
Then up the coast road to Gaza, with sand hills 
between them and the sea, and the road itself no 
better than a camel track in the sand. But towards 
the hill country on the east, they could see ploughed 
fields and grassy plains, and flocks/ 

e I should think the camel track would become a 
broad road, with so many caravans travelling it/ 
said Cyril. 

i The road is not so exactly marked out as that, 
— each string of camels or asses seems to choose 
its own ; and in the space of sixty yards there will 
be twenty of these tracks crossing and interlacing 
each other. But they make the way plain enough, 
quite up to Gaza. 

1 At Gaza Joseph was to meet tidings of another 
sort. I suppose he pitched his tent outside the 
city, as is the custom now, and then went in among 
the people ; eager to see and hear the men of his 
own land once more. And there, perhaps from 
some caravan just in from Jerusalem, he heard bad 
news : Herod indeed was dead, but " Archelaus did 
reign in the room of his father ; " and Joseph was 
afraid to go thither, — afraid to advance a step fur- 
ther into the country. 

' Again God came to his help $ again in a dream 



164 fphe jjftan oxtt of Jacob. 

he was told what to do. He must not go across the 
hills to Bethlehem, the city of his fathers ; hut must 
journey on and on through the sea-coast plain, tow- 
ards the north, and then turn aside into Galilee, 
where Archelaus had no authority nor power/ 

' I think it was very nice to be directed so all 
the time/ said Mabel. 

6 Do you ? ' said mamma, — ' the promise stands 
yet : " I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way 
which thou shalt go." But then it is upon one 
condition : "Be ye not as the horse, or as the 
mule ; which have no understanding : whose mouth 
must be held in with bit and bridle." We must 
follow, if we would have God lead. So did Joseph. 
He was afraid — afraid to go into any part of the 
land of Israel ; " notwithstanding, being warned of 
God in a dream," notwithstanding his fear, he went 
on.' 

' Sometimes in joy, sometimes in sorrow, some- 
times in fear, — always in obedience ! ? said Gracie. 
1 So it is, mamma. 3 

' Was this another dream ? ' asked Mabel. 

6 1 think so ; while Joseph tarried at Gaza, trou- 
bled at the news he heard, and not knowing what 
to do. The great caravan route from Egypt to 
Damascus,' said mamma, pointing it out to us on 
the map, ( went first as we have seen to Gaza, and 
then along the beautiful sea-coast plain — the Shef- 
elah — and the narrower plain of Sharon, almost as 
far north as Csesarea. Then turned off to the 
north-east across the great inland plain of Esdra- 
elon.' 



^azatjeth. 165 

'That is the plain that cuts the hills in two/ 
said Cyril. 

'Yes. This is not the place to tell you much 
about the Shefelah, — its sandy strip of shore where- 
on stood the old coast cities of the Philistines ; and 
its boundless fields of grain, — without v a fence, 
without a break, almost without a stone, — that 
stretched back from the sands, " an ocean of wheat," 
to the wall of Judah's hills, full fifteen miles away. 
Here and there on a bit of rising ground there was 
a village, or one of Philistia's inland cities ; set in 
a frame of gardens, with orange groves bearing im- 
mense fruit, and pomegranates brilliant with scar- 
let blossoms. Prom the Shefelah the road passed on 
into the plain of Sharon ; and then through that rent 
in the hills twelve miles wide, the caravan route 
turned eastward. Even so Joseph went on through 
the Shefelah and the plain of Sharon ; and then leav- 
ing the caravan route at the foot of Esdraelon, he 
literally, according to the Bible words, "turned 
aside into the parts of Galilee." ' 

i Then the caravan road did not go quite to Naz- 
areth/ said Gracie. 

1 No, it crossed the south border of Galilee, going 
east ; and there Joseph must have turned into the 
great northern highway, going towards Nazareth, 
his former home. 

1 Of all the provinces of the Holy Land, Galilee 
is the wildest, the richest, the most beautiful. 
Very different from the rolling hill country where 
Tudah " bound his foal to the vine ; " for the jag- 



166 ^ho $tat| out of &icob. 

ged heights of Galilee, wilder, higher, and more 
broken, held yet in their recesses rich upland val- 
leys ; while at their base lay broad plains of unbro- 
ken fertility. Here the tribe of Issachar "saw 
that rest was good, and the land that it was pleas- 
ant : " hereNaphtali dwelt "like a hind let loose ; " 
"satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing 
of the Lord." Here Zebulon was "for an haven 
of ships," and "rejoiced in his going out;" "and 
he sucked the abundance of the seas, and the treas- 
ures hid in the sand ; " while of Asher it was said, 
" Let him dip his foot in oil : " " his bread shall be 
fat, and he shall yield royal dainties." The moun- 
tain ranges of northern Galilee are but spurs of 
Lebanon ; with grassy plains far up on their heights, 
and forest glades, and glens opening out east and 
west. Here are thick woods of evergreen oak, and 
clumps of cedar, and myrtles and orange groves 
and olives. The hills are full of vineyards, the val- 
leys of cornfields ; and everything will grow in that 
wonderful climate, from the Caspian walnut to 
Egypt's palm. Streams from Lebanon pour down 
the ravines, and grass and flowers and birds make 
Galilee the garden of the Holy Land.' 

c Is that now, or then, mamma ? ' said Cyril. 

6 It is a garden still/ said mamma ; i though now 
it is neither half settled nor cultivated. But we 
can just guess what it must have been. High up 
among these ridges that slope down from Lebanon, 
is a little crescent-shaped valley, a mile long and a 
quarter of a mile broad, stretching off east and 



T^azaqsth. 167 

west, and with branches that run up among the 
ravines like so many fingers. Fifteen rounded hill- 
tops surround it on all sides ; white limestone hills, 
but tinged with the colours and flecked with the 
shadows of scattered figtrees and wild shrubs and 
patches of grain. The valley itself is rich with ver- 
dure and cultivation. Thick grass — that rarity in 
Palestine ; gardens hedged with prickly pear ; fruit 




trees, cornfields, and multitudes of flowers, make 
a brilliant mosaic of nature's own pattern. Figs 
and oranges and mulberries and olives are among 
the trees ; and the grass is embroidered with daisies 
and tulips, lilies, poppies, anemones, and tall holly- 
hocks growing wild. The earth, where it shews, 
is red and white with the crumbling limestone and 
the rich soil ; and the golden gleam of citrons, and 
the purple hue of grapes, shine in the summer sun. ? 

i A valley among fifteen hills ! ; said Cyril. ( And 
how high up, mamma ? 9 

1 About 1,300 feet above the sea ; and some of the 
^oads are rough enough. Approaching from the 
douth, after crossing the great plain, you come to a. 



168 ^he $tat[ out of Xaoob. 

rocky ledge a thousand feet high. No stranger 

would imagine that the way lay there, — Mr. 

said he should as soon have thought of riding up 
the Palisades of the Hudson River. But our guide 
declared that there was a " firstrate road/' and up 
we went. Up among rocks and grassy ledges, 
where I think only Syrian horses could have kept 
their feet. The path was much of the time in the 
solid rock, sometimes mounting up by rude ledge 
steps for thirty feet or more, — just rock, with here 
and there a few flowers, or a low bush, nestling in 
the crevices. Then we turned round great masses 
of rock which not even our ponies would climb, and 
so came into the main road which finds its way to 
the plain through a ravine some distance to the 
west of where our path began. But such a 
"main" road! Slippery descents of rock, and 
sharp ridges, and loose stones, and holes ; and the 
ravine very narrow in some places.' 

' Mamma,' said Sue, - did your pony throw you 
off ? Weren't you afraid ? ' 

c My pony carried me up like the splendid little 
fellow he was, and neither slipped nor stumbled 
nor threw me off. And I was not afraid, Sue, — I 
had too much else to think of. For this was the 
old, old road to Nazareth ; and up and down these 
very ledges of rock must Jesus have walked many 
and many a time. The wild ravine was full of his 
presence. And there is nothing like that,' added 
mamma softly, i to make every road — whether of 
life or of Palestine — seem safe. 



$aza*[eth. 169 

— * " Let me but see 
Before me in the toilsome way, 
The form of Him once slain for me - - 
I'll sing and triumph all the way ! " ' 

How clear and sweet the words came out ! what 
though the voice fainted a little, 

6 Whichever path from the plain Joseph and 
Mary may have taken, when they came back from 
Egypt,' mamma went on, ' they came presently 
into this main road up the ravine ; mounting slowly 
up : and then at a sudden bend in -the hill Naza- 
reth in its mountain nest — the fairest village in 
all Syria — lay before them. Fifteen hills, as I 
told you, circle it round. That to the north is the 
highest, rising up four hundred feet above the val- 
ley, and covered with herbage. The side towards 
the valley is steep, and seamed at the base with 
ravines ; and in these ravines, and on the ridges 
between, lies the town : the white limestone houses 
holding fast to the rocks, and hiding in the glens, 
or standing on some point of higher ground to over- 
look the valley. People say that the old founda- 
tions shew that the whole town once stood well up 
on the hillside, but it is creeping down yet more 
and more into the valley now, Neatly built houses, 
flat roofed of course, and so shining white that 
one forgets the dirty lanes that lie between, — till 
one tries to go through them in wet weather. And 
then it is just as much as anybody can do.' 

* mamma ! ' said Gracie, *— ( why don't they 
keep it clean ? ' 



170 



($he $iatj out of Jacob. 



e I never saw a clean Oriental town/ said mam- 
ma. 'It's not the fashion of the East; and the 
people of Nazareth are no worse than others in this 
respect.' 

1 Are they Arahs too ? ' said Cyril. 

' Yes, settled Arabs ; like the people of Bethle- 
hem. A bold, hardy, independent set; standing 
their ground well against all encroachments. The 
women are tall and well-shaped, and have a great 




reputation for beauty ; but not content with their 
natural advantages, most of them tattoo their faces 
and arms, and blacken their eyelids with kohl.' 

' Tattoo their faces ! ' said Cyril. i I thought 
only savages did that.' 

6 It is a savage custom/ answered mamma, ' and 
heathenish too, in its origin ; for among some na- 
tions the tattooed marks on the forehead or hand 
were a mark of service to some heathen god ; just 
as soldiers in certain armies were branded with a 
sign of allegiance to their prince.' 

* And as the people in the Revelation who wor^ 



^azat[eth. 171 

shipped the beast were marked with his name/ said 
Gracie. 

6 The people of Nazareth use tattooing only as a 
beautifier now/ said mamma : ( its old meaning, if 
it once had one among them, has quite passed 
away. All the Arab women tattoo themselves 
more or less. So with blackening the eyelids : the 
custom was not thought respectable among the 
Jews. But the wicked queen Jezebel, a Phoeni- 
cian, " painted the eyes ; " and her example was 
followed first by others like her, then by more re- 
spectable people ; and most Egyptians and Syrians 
do it yet. The kohl is a sort of lampblack prepared 
from burnt resin or almond shells. It is kept in 
a little glass vase ; and then with a small stick of 
wood or ivory or silver, dipped first in rose water 
and then in the kohl, the Syrian beauty marks 
round the edge of both the upper and under eye- 
lid, and " puts her eyes in paint." I 

' What horrid people ! ' said Mabel. 

* T do not see that kohl is much worse than the 
little black patches English ladies wore on their 
faces in Addison's time/ said mamma. 'And for 
that matter, my dear, every face is marked in some 
way : stamped with the seal of God, or marked with 
the spot of the world. And this is a short way of 
deciding many a doubtful question, — will it mark 
me as belonging to the world, or to Christ ? ' 

6 What sort of people in other respects are those 
at Nazareth ? ' said Cyril. 

i About three fourths belong to the Greek and 






172 ^he $ta*t out of laoob. 

Roman Catholic churches ; and there are ft thou- 
sand Mohammedans, a very few Protestants, but not 
a single Jew. No Jews seem willing to live in 
either Nazareth or Bethlehem. One of the pret- 
tiest places to see the people is at the Fountain of 
the Virgin, — the old living spring which supplies 
all Nazareth with water. It is outside the town, a 
little to the north-east ; a stone-built fountain, with 
several openings through which the water flows 
out within sight and reach. Tradition says that 
here Gabriel came to Mary with his wonderful tid- 
ings ; but though there is no reason to suppose that 
true, yet the fountain bears her name to this day. 
And hither she must have come, very, very often, 
with the child Jesus by her side. It is the same 
old fountain still, — the springs of an Eastern city 
are never lost sight of, though the city itself may 
pass away ; and down the same path come all the 
girls and women of Nazareth now, to draw water. 
Come in bands of twenty or thirty at a time, — at 
some hours there is such a crowd that it is hard to 
get near the fountain. I used to sit there often, to 
watch the women as they came up, bearing their 
c all earthen pitchers on head or shoulder, and then 
stopping to laugh and gossip and play round the 
old stone troughs. All brunettes, with black eyes 
and hair, and all of Arab blood. There are none 
" of the house and lineage of David " at that foun- 
tain now.' 

1 Mamma, how were they dressed ? ? said Mabel. 

'In full trousers, and over that a long white 




,'i 



WWfiF 



174 (J5he $tat] out of Jacob, 

shirt ; and then a long open robe of striped cotton 
or Damascus silk, bound round below the waist with 
a broad girdle. Some wore anklets of silver, and 
all had bracelets — silver, gold, or glass ; sometimes 
with a jewelled ring on the finger, fastened to the 
bracelet by a chain. On their heads they wore first 
a tight linen cap, and in front, coming down each 
side of the face like* the chains of a dragoon's hel- 
met, was a thick linen roll covered with silver coins 
as close together as they could be put on. A long 
white pointed veil hung down the back ; and over 
the lower part of the face, and across the brow, were 
the folds of a muslin shawl ; leaving only the wear- 
er's eyes to be seen. In the house these lower folds 
are pushed down beneath the chin.' 

' How large coins, mamma ? ' said Gracie. 

1 As large as a crown, or half crown — those worn 
by the women ; the children's were not larger than 
a shilling. The girls will not sell one of these coin 
rolls, for any price. Now and then at the fountain, 
among the busy group, a few men might be seen ; 
wearing their long dressing gowns of silk and cot- 
ton, gayly striped with red and purple, or violet and 
yellow, or purple and white ; and girdled with a 
shawl, or with a broad leather belt stitched full of 
pockets and purses. And every man wore on his 
head the red and yellow Arab shawl.' 

'Well it wasn't polite to wear their dressing 
gowns out where people could see them,' said Sue 
with grave disapproval. 

* Ah that is all the coat they have/ said mamma. 



T^azar^th. 



175 



' I called it a dressing gown, for it looks like one ; 
but it is really their dress.' 




' Mamma, are any of the old Nazareth houses 
standing yet ? ? said Gracie ; i or is it all new, like 
Bethlehem ? ? 

( All new : I suppose that very few of the build- 
ing stones even, of Mary's time, remain. That soft 
white limestone soon crumbles away when exposed 



176 t$h$ $totj out of Sacob. 

to the weather; and the houses, if not cared for 
and kept in repair, very soon go to ruin. Nazareth 
has been once and again sacked and deserted, and 
probably the stones of the house where Mary lived 
are but dust in the highway now. The Romish 
monks pretend that they have the whole house safe 
at Loretto, — and the Greek church shew it in 
equa^y good repair somewhere else ; but the real 
little house at Nazareth has for ever passed out of 
sight/ 

The children sat thinking, as mamma ceased, — 
musing over the strange customs and scenes of that 
far off land ; — all but one little heart. Grade sud- 
denly broke forth with almost a cry. 

1 Mamma ! — how can one escape that dreadful 
mark ! ? — 

Mamma laid her hand tenderly on the child's 
head. 

1 Listen, Gracie,' she said. ' " And I looked, and , 
lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him 
an hundred forty and four thousand, having his 
Father's name written in their foreheads" Where 
that seal is set, neither earth nor hell shall have 
power to place its own/ 




efopfe* 3EJ1. 

GOING UP TO TEE PASSOVER. 

that is Nazareth ! ' said Cyril, leaning his 
elbows on the table and studying the little 
photograph which mamma had laid before 
us. ' And here Joseph and Mary came to 
live. " They came and dwelt in a city called Naz- 
areth." ; 

' And there my Jesus lived too/ said Sue. 
6 Yes/ said mamma, ( " when they had performed 
all things according to the law of the Lord." They 
had wne through all the required ceremonies at 
Jerusalem, had been exiles in Egypt at his com- 
mand ; and now coming back again by his permis- 
sion, " they returned into Galilee, to their own city 
Nazareth." " That it might be fulfilled which was 
spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Naza- 
rene." ; 

' Mamma/ said Gracie, ( I've been trying and 
trying to find those prophecies, and I couldn't find 
one ! I couldn't see that even the word Nazarene 
is in all the Old Testament.' 

' Ah I dare say/ answered mamma ; c it is not in 
our English translation ; but if you could have 
12 



178 $he $taq out of Jacob* 

searched the Hebrew Bible, you would ha\e had 
better success. Nazareth is now called by the 
Arabs En-Nazirah ; but the real name in Hebrew 
is Netser, — and Netser means a shoot, a sprout. 
Now turn to the 11th of Isaiah : " And there shall 
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a 
Branch shall grow out of his roots." The word 
used there for Branch, is Netser. And in other 
places the same image though not precisely the 
same word is used. Jeremiah says : " Behold, the 
days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto 
David a righteous Branch," — and Zephaniah, " I 
will bring forth my servant the Branch" — "the 
man whose name is the Branch." ' 

' Mamma/ said Sue, 'I don't understand it one 
bit!' 

{ You would know what I meant if I called my 
little Sue a flower ? ' said mamma. 

' yes/ said Sue. 

' Well in the Bible kings and great men are often 
called trees. Now when a tree dies, or is cut down, 
aftsr a long while the old root w T hich is in the 
ground sends up a new shoot; or sometimes the 
branch of a living tree bends down and takes root. 
And if some king was spoken of as the tree, then 
this shoot or branch would mean his rightful heii 
and descendant. But a piece of any but the royal 
tree would not be called a brands at all. Now 
king David had been dead a long, long time ; and 
there had not been a prince of David's line for a 
great many years. But the, Lord had promised ; 



(point) up to tho 3?a$$ov$ii. 179 

and then Jesus came : u a rod out of the stem of 
Jesse " (David's father), and a Branch from the old 
root. Eor his mother was of the royal family of 
David. u And he came and dwelt in a city called 
Nazareth ; that it might be fulfilled which was spo- 
ken by the prophets, He shall be called a Naza- 
rene." He shall be a Ketser, — a Branch, — and 
" the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of 
his father David." 

6 Quick and constantly now, from this time for- 
ward, went on the fulfilment of all that the proph- 
ets had foretold concerning this wonderful One. 
" The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit," — 
strong in the Lord and in the power of his might : 
" and the grace of God was upon him." " Grace is 
poured into thy lips," so it had been written of him 
long before, and now all was accomplished. " The 
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of 
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel 
and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear 
of the Lord ; and shall make him of quick under- 
standing in the fear of the Lord." ' 

1 But he was the Lord himself/ said Mabel. 

1 And the Son of man too : "made a little lower 
than the angels for the suffering of death," and 
therefore receiving grace, and needing comfort, and 
feeling pain, like any other man. Thus every bit 
of his human nature and of his human experience 
is a lesson for us. " He left us an ensample that 
We should follow in his steps." ' 

'How, mamma ? ; said Cyril. 'I should have 



180 $he $taq out of Jacob. 

thought that just these things which you were tell- 
ing were beyond being copied.' 

' Listen to what the Bible says/ replied mamma. 
' " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom : 
a good understanding have all they that keep his 
commandments." " Thou, therefore, my son, be 
strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus." 
Think how the first twelve years of his life passed 
on. and what fruit they bore ! " The grace of God 
was upon him," all those years. 

e " Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year 
at the feast of the passover." ' 

' I don't understand much about the passover/ 
said Cyril. < The Bible's full of it, too.' 

i Fifteen hundred years before this time of which 
we have been speaking/ said mamma, ( there was 
" a night much to be observed unto the Lord," — 
the night wherein he brought out the children of 
Israel with a strong hand from their bondage in 
Egypt : " this is that night of the Lord to be ob- 
served of all the children of Israel in their genera- 
tions." He bade each family choose out a spotless 
lamb, and kill it, and sprinkle its blood on the posts 
and lintel of the house door ; and then they must 
roast the lamb whole, and gather round and eat it, 
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs ; each one 
dressed for a journey, with staff in hand, and in 
haste. So, after this manner, in silence and by 
night the children of Israel kept the first pass- 
over. And at midnight the Lord passed through 
the land of Egypt, and smote with death the 



(poing up to the Jfassovet], 181 

first-born in every house ; but when he saw the 
blood-sprinkled doorposts where the Israelites dwelt, 
the Lord passed over those houses, and suffered not 
the destroyer to go in. Therefore this feast was 
ordered to be kept by the Israelites for ever ; in 
memory of their great deliverance, of their liberty 
and new life : everything henceforward should date 
from that. "This month shall be unto you the 
beginning of months : it shall be the first month 
of the year to you," said the Lord, — the month 
Abib : for on the fourteenth day of Abib, at even, 
the feast of the passover was kept/ 

( What month was Abib ? ? said Cyril. 

6 It answers to our April — or rather part of 
April and part of March. Abib means, the month 
of ears of corn ; for the barley harvest began then. 
And the children of Israel kept the feast year by 
year, through all their wanderings. But when they 
were settled in the Holy Land, and the temple 
was built, then it was ordered that the feast should 
be kept at Jerusalem by all the assembled people ; 
and so every year at that time, all the men of the 
whole nation went up for the feast, to the place the 
Lord had chosen.' 

* And not the women too ? ' said Mabel. 

? The women might go or not, as they chose ; and 
the devout ones usually went, if no home duties 
were in the way. So Hannah, the mother of Sam- 
uel, went to the feast ; and so Mary, year by year. 
And when the Lord Jesus was twelve years old, he 
too wenfc up to Jerusalem at the time of the feast, 



182 ^ha $taq out of Jacob 

with Mary and Joseph. This was the custom 
among the Jews, — at the age of twelve a boy was 
taken to the passover for the first time.' 

i Well what became of the fields and everything 
while the men were away ? ' said Cyril. ( Enemies 
might have come and conquered the whole land/ 

{ What becomes of anything, which we leave to 
God's care, at his command ? ' said mamma. i Is 
it neglected, do you think ? As for enemies, the 
Lord had made a special promise about that : " nei- 
ther shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt 
go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in 
the year." For there were two other pilgrimage 
feasts, besides the passover.' 

6 That was first-rate/ said Cyril. ' Why of course 
it was just as good to have God lay his hand upon 
people's hearts, as to have him stretch out his hand 
and cut off their heads.' 

( Just as good ! ' — said Mabel, — l isn't that a 
boy's speech ? Mamma, why do you say pilgrim- 
age feasts ? y 

6 Because each one was kept at Jerusalem, and 
crowds of people went up to them from every direc- 
tion. Nothing like those feasts has ever been seen 
in the world since then ; nor will be, until the time 
of that holy convocation when all the general assem- 
bly and church of the first-born shall meet together 
in heaven, — in " Jerusalem which is above." As 
the day of the feast drew nigh, the people of each 
town and village set off together, joining themselves 
to other little companies by the way; until the 



(potoo, up to the J?a$$ove^ 183 

roads were filled with long processions of men, wo- 
men and children, their faces all towards the holy 
city. 

6 Imagine what the scene would be, in some moun- 
tain village of Galilee for instance. It is now two 
or three days before the passover, and the people 
have made all their preparations and are ready for 
the journey. The scattered travellers on the hill- 
side have come in, and the people of the town have 
shut up their houses ; and it is night, and all stand 
waiting in the streets for the first breaking of the 
day. Then as the dawn comes softly up in the sky, 
the little company sets forward : first the elders of 
the town, and the priests, if any dwell there ; then 
the people — on foot, or on camels and asses ; while 
scattered here and there through the crowd are the 
Levites with their musical instruments. And as 
the people move forward at the slow caravan pace, 
the Levites begin to chant ; and through the grey 
morning twilight, and among the glorious hill-tops 
of Tabor and Hermon, and over the old plain of 
Esdraelon, sound forth the notes of the psalteries, 
and the chorus of voices, young and old : — 



' " I was glad when they said unto me 
Let us go unto the house of the Lord. 
My feet shall stand within thy gates, Jerusalem. 
Jerusalem is builded 
As a city that is compact together . 
Whither the tribes go up, 

The tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, 
To give thanks unto the name of the Lord." ' 



184 ^ho jjftmt out of Jacob. 

( grand ! ' said Cyril. c It makes one wish one's 
self a Jew. 5 

( Mamma/ said Gracie, softly, ' it makes one 
think how St. Paul desired to depart, and be with 
Christ.' 

6 Ay ! ' mamma answered, with the flush mount- 
ing on her pale cheek, — ' and of that day when 
"the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come 
with singing unto Zion." No heart can conceive 
what that music will.be. And few things on earth 
could ever be compared with this, its great type, of 
which I have told you. The glorious words of the 
psalm, the full voices, the long train of pilgrims, — 
some going up to Jerusalem for their first, and some 
for their last passover. Then as they went on, 
leaving further and further behind them their 
houses and possessions which the Lord had prom- 
ised to guard while they were away, again the song 
burst forth : — 

" ' I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills 
From whence cometh my help. 
My help cometh from the Lord 
Which made heaven and earth. 
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved ; 
He that keepeth thee will not slumber : 
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor 



{ Mamma/ said Sue, l how could the people sing 
when they were riding ? ' 

i Because in a caravan everybody moves slowly, 
at a slow foot pace ; not more than two or three 



(poing up to the $a$$ovet|, 185 

miles an hour ; so that those who ride go ao faster 
than those who walk. Ever nearer and nearer to 
the holy city, resting at midday because of the heat, 
spreading their mantles for carpets, sharing their 
stores with one another, thus the procession moved 
on. From one direction came a company well sup- 
plied with honey, — - another came loaded with clus- 
ters of raisins ; and each gave freely of such things 
as they had. Even as the pilgrims who are jour- 
neying to the Celestial city, give help and refresh- 
ment to each other : " every man according to the 
measure of the gift of Christ." 

( And now at length, on the third or fourth day, 
they drew near to Jerusalem, and every eye and 
heart were eager with expectation. All other 
things were forgotten for the time, and the people 
chanted as they went : — 

" How amiable are thy tabernacles, Lord of hosts ! 
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the 

Lord. 
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house — 
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee — 
A day in thy courts is better than a thousand." 

'On and on, over the swelling hillsides and 
through the deep valleys, with such haste as they 
could make. The sun was declining, throwing the 
wild hill country into exquisite light and shade ; 
and the still spring air caught and held and pro- 
longed the rich music, as once more the Levites 
began their song, and the people joined in. 



186 ^he $fot[ out of Sacob. 

" Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, 
In the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. 
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, 
Is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the 

great King. 
We have thought of thy loving kindness, 
In the midst of thy temple, God, 
According to thy name, God, 
So is thy praise unto the ends of the earth : 
Thy right hand is full of righteousness. 
Let Mount Zion rejoice, 
Let the daughters of Judah he glad, 
Because of thy judgments. 
Walk about Zion, and go round about her. 
Tell the towers thereof: 
Mark ye well her bulwarks, 
Consider her palaces ; 

That ye may tell it to the generation following. 
For this God is our God for ever and ever : 
He will be our guide even unto death." 

' The psalm was begun with every voice joining 
in ; but before it ended many a one was silent, with 
heart and thought too full of joy and expectation, 
And as the last words were sung, the Levites pro- 
longed the notes on their instruments, but the peo- 
ple were still as death ; and only the soft footfalls 
of the camels and the hushed tread of the crowd, 
could be heard. Suddenly from those in the front 
rank burst forth the cry — u Jerusalem ! — Jeru- 
salem ! " — " Jerusalem, thou city built on high, 
we wish thee peace ! ". For there in the distance 
rose the white w r alls of the city, gleaming in the set- 
ting sun ; and up into the clear air there mounted 
a light cloud of smoke from the evening sacrifice/ 



(poing up to ths Jfaaaoveij. 187 

i Mamma,' said Gracie, ' it will be so, will it not, 
when the other pilgrims get home ? and they'll see 
first the gates of pearl, and " the light most pre- 
cious ; " and then the sacrifice that bought it all. 
And they'll sing a new song then.' 

Mamma bowed her head in answer, but she did 
not speak : some thought of the discords and pain 
of earth made the thought of that music too deep 
for words. But Sue, striking her little hands to- 
gether, sang with her clear voice : — 

" There we shall reign and shout and sing, 
And make the heavenly arches ring ; 
When all the saints get home — 

When all the saints get home." 

And the other children caught up the refrain and 
repeated it, till it sounded through my very heart. 
Then mamma spoke again. 

6 Thus, in this manner, our Lord Jesus went up 
to the passover when he was twelve years old ; but 
though the city was thronged, with twenty times 
its usual numbers, yet for once every house was 
open to him, as to other strangers. For at the 
time of a pilgrimage feast, no dweller in Jerusalem 
counted his house his own. Even so, all could not 
lodge within the city ; and white camps were 
pitched on every side. That of the Galilee pil- 
grims was always to the north, on the Mount of 
Olives.' 

' I suppose the people who came first got the 
houses, and the people who came last took th§ 
tents,' said Cyril 



188 t$h$ $tat| out of Jacob. 

' 1 suppose so ; though many might prefer the 
tents, even if there was room elsewhere. Jerusa- 
lem was a wonder of beauty by night, at such a 
time. In the city people were all up on the roofs 
of their houses, taking supper ; and lights and feast- 
ing were on every hand ; while in the valleys be- 
yond the walls, and on the surrounding hills, the 
white tents of the pilgrims gleamed out bright in 
the moonlight. Every now and then a burst of 
music was heard in the distance — cymbals and 
trumpets and song — as some new caravan came 
up ; arriving late because of its longer journey or 
rougher road ; and so the thirteenth of Abib — or 
Nisan, as the month was called in later times — 
came to an end ; and the next day was that of prep- 
aration for the passover. One part only, of the 
preparation, was made this evening. After supper, 
the master of the house with his younger guests — 
each bearing a torch — went in grave procession 
from room to room of the whole premises, searching 
for leaven ; opening each closet and cupboard and 
drawer, to make sure that none of the forbidden 
thing was concealed there. The master himself 
carried a dish and brush ; and every little crumb 
of leavened bread, every particle of leaven in any 
shape that he could find, was carefully swept into 
the dish. The search was so minute and careful 
that it sometimes lasted two hours ; and then when 
every nook and corner had been examined, the dish 
was carefully locked up, the householder saying 
tfeese words the while : (i Whatsoever leayened thing 



(poing up to the 3?a$$ove^ 189 

there is in my house, which I have not seen nor put 
away, may it be scattered in pieces and accounted 
as the dust of the earth." ' 

6 Why did he say that, mamma ? ? asked Sue. 
< Why did they do all that ? ' 

c God had ordered that they should eat only un- 
leavened bread all the days of the feast, and they 
wanted to be quite sure that there was none other 
in the house, and to protest that if there, it was 
without their knowledge. Leaven was taken for 
a type of sin, — a sign of people living in worldly 
abundance and servitude ; and therefore God's peo- 
ple must put it away. Even the sign must not be 
allowed when they kept this memorial feast, in 
token of the blood that saved them and set them 
free ; but they must eat the bread of haste and sim- 
plicity, as pilgrims who seek a country. And as 
they searched for even the least speck of leaven, so 
might God search their hearts. As David said : 
" Cleanse thou me from secret faults," — " that 
which I see not, teach thou me." 

6 The day of preparation came. All the families 
took an early meal, to have time for the needful 
arrangements ; and then the women baked a sup- 
ply of unleavened bread, and the furniture and ves- 
sels and floors in every house were washed, and all 
things put in the neatest order. At noon a slight 
repast of the thin white cakes of unleavened bread 
was set out under the palm trees in the inner court 
of each house ; and when this was over, a fire was 
made in the garden, and the locked-up dish of leav- 
en was solemnly brought out and burnt/ 



190 $he $tm[ out of Jacob 

6 What was the unleavened bread like ? said 
Mabel. 

' Something like thin crackers, — made of flour 
and water, and baked in flat cakes which were 
pierced full of little holes, lest the least fermenta- 
tion should take place. 

' And now, about the eighth hour — or two o'clock 
— the trumpets sounded a long blast from the tem- 
ple, and said to every one who heard, that the pass- 
over had begun ; while from streets and tents and 
houses a thousand horns answered the signal. Im- 
mediately every man who was at the head of a fam- 
ily set out for the temple ; either bearing a lamb on 
his shoulder, or having it driven before him by a 
servant ; and the throng became presently almost 
impassable. By degrees, however, the men were 
gathered in the court of Israel, dividing themselves 
into three great bodies : and there they waited 
until the evening sacrifice should be over. It was 
offered an hour before the usual time, on this day ; 
and as soon as it was laid on the altar, when the 
lamps were lighted in the holy place, and the in- 
cense was mounting up to heaven in a fragrant 
cloud, then the gates into the priests' court were 
thrown open. At once the first division of the men 
went in there, and with three blasts of the trumpet 
the gates were closed again, and the work of sacri- 
fice began. On this day only, each man killed his 
own. The priests stood in two long rows,, reaching 
from the people to the altar, one row bearing basins 
jf gold and the other basins of silver. Then each 



(foing up to the #a$$ovejt. 191 

Israelite in turn brought forward his lamb, and first 
telling how many were to partake of it, he drew his 
knife across the creature's throat. The priest near- 
est to him caught the blood in his basin, and hand- 
ing it to the next priest took his empty basin in 
exchange ; and thus the basin that held the blood 
was passed along, until the priest who stood next 
the altar received it, and threw out the blood at the 
foot of the altar in a single jet. Meantime each 
man of the people stepped aside as soon as his lamb 
was killed, and began to skin it and take off the 
fat, which another priest carried away and laid on 
the altar. The work went on with great quick- 
ness ; and when one division of the people had fin- 
ished their work, the gates were opened and anoth- 
er set took their place. Not silently was all this 
done, but with singing and praise : the Levites, 
standing on the fifteen steps between the court of 
Israel and the court of the women, saug the great 
Hallel, as it was called, — the Psalms from the 
113th to the 118th ; and at each Psalm there were 
three blasts of the trumpets. Then when all was 
done, and it began to grow dark, the people went 
home ; and the priests carefully cleansed the temple 
courts, and burned the fat of the lambs with in- 
cense upon the altar/ 

6 Mamma, how many were there of these priests 
and Levites ? ' said Cyril. 

1 In the time of King David there were twenty- 
four thousand Levites engaged in the temple ser- 
vice alone, besides the singers and musicians \ an*! 



192 1$hz $tat[ out of Jacob, 

these numbered four thousand more. So you may 
think what the great Hallelujah was in those days, 
sung by four thousand trained voices ; but the 
priests alone blew the trumpets, on any occasion. 
Of the priests there were so many, that tradition 
says it had never fallen to the lot of any priest in 
latter times to burn incense twice. 

' While the men were thus busy at the temple, on 
the day of preparation, the women at home had 
other work to do. Tables were set and ovens 
heated, and all made ready for the feast. The 
ovens were holes in the ground, two and a balf feet 
wide, but five or six feet deep. The sides were 
faced with stone, and the fire was kindled at the 
bottom, and kept up until the stones were very hot. 
Then the whole lamb was put in to roast : a spit 
of pomegranate wood thrust through it from end to 
end, and a second shorter piece run across from 
shoulder to shoulder, and thus it was suspended in 
the oven until thoroughly done. 

' It was now the fifteenth of the month, for the 
Jewish day begins at sundown. Every house was 
brilliantly lighted, the members of each family were 
assembled, all dressed in their best clothes. Chil- 
dren as well as grown people, the servant with his 
master : on this night all were equal. " In Christ, 
there is neither bond nor free." Only no foreigner, 
— none who were not of Israel might come to the 
feast : they had no part in the great deliverance, 
no faith in the blood of sprinkling. But there were 
Jews of every nation, — from Egypt, Cyprus, and 
Babylon. 



(going up fo the $a$$ovet|. 193 

' The supper room was sweet with perfumes, and 
in the midst of it stood a low table, placed out of 
order and set as if in haste ; and round it stood the 
family, all dressed as if for flight ; sandals on their 
feet, and staves in hand, and their costly robes girt 
close about them. And first of all, the master of 
the house took a wine cup, and as he filled it he 
blessed the Lord who had given them that day. 
Then tasting the wine, he passed it round the table; 
and after another blessing spoken, all the company 
washed their hands. The roasted lamb was now 
set on, with the unleavened bread, the vinegar, and 
the sauce of bitter herbs ; and each one took some 
of the herbs, dipping them in the vinegar. 

'At this moment the mistress of the house made 
a sign to one of the little ones there, and the child 
spoke out, asking the meaning of all these strange 
things. And at once the father answered, — tell- 
ing how God had redeemed Israel out of the house 
of bondage ; how for the sake of the sprinkled blood 
of the lamb the destroying angel had passed over 
their dwellings ; how from thenceforth they had been 
the Lord's peculiar people : telling also of the haste 
with which they fled out of Egypt, having only 
time to take with them their kneading troughs of 
unleavened bread. Then each one eat of the bitter 
herbs, singing afterwards the 113th and 114th 
Psalms. Another washing of hands followed, and 
the cup was again blessed and sent round. Then 
they eat of the unleavened bread with the herbs 
and vinegar, and the lamb was carved, but so as 

not to break a bone nor divide a joint. 
13 



194 (^he $tatt out of Jacob, 

1 With joy and singing the feast went on, until an 
hour before midnight : it must not continue after 
that. After prayer, and another washing of hands, 
and another cup blessed and drunk, they sang 
Psalms 115th to 118th: once more washed their 
hands, once more drank of the cup, and the feast of 
the passover was ended. But whatever portion 
of the lamb was not eaten, was burnt that very 
night : it might not remain until the next day/ 

6 It sounds just like a great, beautiful parable,' 
said Cyril. ' I wish you'd explain it, mamma.' 

( It is easily explained,' mamma answered, ' for 
the whole was a wonderful type of Christ, and of 
the soul's dealings with him. We were in the 
bondage of sin and darkness, and " Christ our Pass- 
over was sacrificed for us." And as each soul must 
accept and rest in that sacrifice for itself, so each 
householder must slay his own lamb : on this occa- 
sion not even the priest might do it for him ; for in 
Christ we are made priests unto God. The lamb was 
roasted whole, for the sacrifice is one, and Christ's 
people are one : and no part of it might remain 
until the next day, because as the Redeemer's work 
is a finished work, so must be the believer's accep- 
tance. We must be all Christ's, or we are none of 
his ; for no man can serve two masters. The feast 
began with blessing — "I. will take the cup of 
thanksgiving, and call on the name of the Lord." 
And the washing of hands was a sign of purification, 
of putting away sin from the daily life. " I will 
wash my hands in innocency," said King David.* 



(point} up to the I?a$$ovet[. 195 

' Mamma, I don't see what the bitter herbs 
should mean/ said Gracie. ' Seems to me every- 
thing ought to be just sweet at such a feast/ 

( I think they had several meanings/ said mam- 
ma. ( They were a sign of that repentance, so bit 
ter and yet so wholesome, which every soul must 
know before it is ready to receive Christ ; they were 
a remembrance of the bondage which had made 
the life of every Israelite a bitter thing. And as 
much as either of these, perhaps, they were a token 
of the persecutions, the afflictions, which yet awaited 
them. Those who come to Christ do not leave all 
sorrow and trial behind them, only they have the 
assurance that one day their sorrow shall be turned 
into joy. " In the world ye shall have tribulation," 
said the Lord to his first disciples ; " but be of good 
cheer : I have overcome the world." 

1 The unleavened bread was a sign of entire, sim- 
ple heart-devotion to God. No reservation was 
there, no hidden half work ; for the least speck of 
such leaven would soon leaven the whole lump. 
Leaven has in itself the seeds of corruption and 
dryness and mould ; but unleavened bread will be 
sweet and pure for any length of time. It was a 
sign of haste too : not the provision of ease and 
worldly indulgence, but " the unleavened bread of 
sincerity and truth." And the half-prepared table, 
and the sandals, and the staff in hand, were just a 
reminder of the word that comes to every dweller 
in sin : " Escape for thy life ! " — and so escaping, 
so fleeing from bondage to Christ, he is thence- 



196 ^b$ Jjftatj out of lacott. 

forth a pilgrim ; his loins always girt, his light 
always burning ; his feet shod with the preparation 
of the gospel of peace, ready for the Lord's service. 
And as he journeys on, from time to time the cup 
of salvation is in his hand, and the great Hallelu- 
jah — one part of it or another — is ever sounding 
in his heart, making melody to the Lord. Some- 
times it is this : " Not unto us, Lord, not unto 
us, but unto thy name give glory : " sometimes 
this ; — "I love the Lord, because he hath heard 
my voice and my supplication, — Return unto thy 
rest, my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully 
with thee." Oftenest of all, the memory of what 
Christ has done : " Open to me the gates of right- 
eousness " — " Bind the sacrifice with cords, even 
unto the horns of the altar." " give thanks unto 
the Lord, for he is good : for his mercy endureth 
for ever." 

i " And his mercy is unto children's children of 
them that fear him," ' said Gracie hiding her face 
and hands in mamma's lap. 

And our mother answered, ' Amen ! } 




etapfe* 3EIJJ. 

THE YEARS AT NAZARETH. 

$$)($$/ said Mabel, 'it keeps seeming 
strange to me that the Lord himself 
should have done all those things you 
told us of yesterday. All that feast and shedding 
of blood was nothing to him. 9 

' Ah it was something to him ! ? said mamma, — 
'the appointed sign of his own perfect sacrifice, 
now so near at hand. Besides that, he came to 
fulfil the whole law, to obey its least demands. He 
went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 
Now the feast of unleavened bread lasted for seven 
days ; but whoever chose might return home after 
the third day was past. Those who were more de- 
vout, or who were rich and could afford it, having 
neither harvest nor flocks to call for their care at 
home, remained through the whole week. 5 

'What was done?' said Cyril. 

' All through that first evening while the people 
kept the feast, the priests were hard at work cleans- 
ing the temple ; sweeping and washing and putting 
in order, after the throngs of men and animals that 
had crowded it that day. Then they too eat the 



198 ^he $tat[ out of Jacob. 

passover, and a little after midnight the temple was 
lit up and the gates were opened. Soon after that 
all Jerusalem was astir. The watchman on the tem- 
ple wall stood looking for the dawn; a priest ask- 
ing him from time to time, "Does it begin to be 
light towards Hebron ? " And when he could say- 
yes ; when the morning light was not only in the 
eastern sky but was tinging the hills towards He- 
bron ; by that time the streets were filled with peo- 
ple in their gayest dress. For the temple was 
never so crowded during the whole year, as on the 
morning after the passover. Then came first the 
usual morning sacrifice, after that special offerings 
and sacrifices peculiar to the feast ; with the sing- 
ing of the Hallel ; and on this day the whole body 
of priests were in attendance, not merely a single 
course. Offerings were made for all the people, 
and after that each one brought his own. 

i At the evening sacrifice there was the ceremony 
of the wave-sheaf: sheaves of barley, the first fruits 
of the harvest, specially cut and bound in some one 
of the fields about the city, were now carried to the 
temple and presented to the Lord of the harvest. 
Then some of the grain was roasted and ground, 
and on the next day this meal was salted and 
mixed with oil, and burned upon the altar, a thank- 
offering unto the Lord. After this came a special 
sacrifice, and then all those who needs must went 
home, to carry on the harvest so solemnly begun. 
But many remained at Jerusalem throughout the 
week. 



^he ¥eat[$ at $azat[$th, 199 

' So, it is supposed, did Mary and Joseph at this 
time ; for they fulfilled the days, the days of un- 
leavened bread, and as they returned, the child 
Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem ; and Joseph 
and his mother "knew not of it." They had set 
off with the Galilee caravan, but the child Jesus 
presently left them ; and they supposing that he 
was somewhere in the company, wandering about 
as a boy will do, went on a day's journey without 
him.' 

' A whole day's journey, mamma ? ' said Sue. 

' The first day's journey of a caravan, Sue, is 
generally very short ; not more than two or three 
hours. They set out, get fairly away from the 
city, choose a good camping place, and halt for the 
night ; so that if any important thing has been for- 
gotten, any needful stores not laid in, the matter 
may be found out and set right before they are too 
far away. So the Galilee pilgrims went on a few 
miles, perhaps to Beeroth ; and then when they 
were encamped and night drew on, and still the 
child did not appear, Mary sought him among all 
her kinsfolk and acquaintances. And when he 
was not to be found, she turned back to Jerusalem, 
seeking him there ; and there at last she found 
him, after three days. After three days/ — mam- 
ma repeated, — ' that is an Eastern form of speech. 
When I first reached Gaza, the health officer said 
we must be four days in quarantine ; but the day 
we arrived counted for one, and the day we went 
away for another, — we were really shut up but 



200 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

two. And so at Hebron, a quarantine of " two 
days," meant only remaining over night.' 

'Then the three days here, means over two 
nights/ said Cyril. 

6 Yes. They did not reach Jerusalem probably 
till in the night, or even till the next morning. 
All that day they sought — in the house where 
they had been staying, or on the north hill where 
the Galilee camp had been, and in the houses of all 
their friends ; but to no purpose ; and it was not 
till the next day that they found Jesus in the tem- 
ple. They had looked perhaps in its great courts, 
before ; but now, either directed by some word, or 
searching as one seeks in even unlikely places at 
last, they went through the various rooms in the 
outskirts of the temple, and found him there. 

' Among the Jews many learned men took upon 
themselves the office of public teachers ; and while 
some had private lecture rooms, and others taught 
in the synagogues, there were others still who oc- 
cupied class rooms in the temple itself. Here 
they kept a sort of school for those boys who were 
themselves destined to become scribes and teach- 
ers. At thirteen, every boy became as thejr said a 
child of the law ; bound to study its precepts and 
to obey them ; but for most boys the synagogue 
teaching in their own town or village was thought 
enough, and their learning seldom went be3 T ond 
the texts written on their phylacteries. But when 
a boy was devoted to the calling of the scribes, 
then he went up to Jerusalem and joined some one 



$he Yeai^a at $azaijeth. 201 

of these other schools. There the younger boys 
sat on the floor and the elder on a bench ; while 
the Rabbi, mounted on a high chair, told forth all 
the wisdom with which his own mind was stored, 
and a sort of interpreter — or crier — repeated it 
to the boys. There were also several assistant 
teachers. There was little book learning, few book 
lessons, in those days : the master questioned the 
boys, and they questioned him, — proposing diffi- 
cult questions, inquiring after hidden meanings, 
Deep questions sometimes, touching the law of 
God and the life of a true Israelite ; or often about 
things of mere ceremony and surface work. 

' In such a class did Joseph and Mary find the 
child Jesus, " in the temple, sitting in the midst of 
the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them 
questions." We know not what these questions 
were; but it is easy to imagine how the Lord 
would bring up word after word from Moses and 
the psalms and the prophets concerning himself; 
proving that the kingdom of God was at hand; 
and how the scribes in turn, drawn on by his won- 
derful words, would ask hard questions of him, — 
striving in vain to be anything that day but learn- 
ers. " And all that heard him were astonished at 
his understanding and answers;" for as had long 
ago been foretold, "the Lord God had given him 
the tongue of the learned." 

i So Mary and Joseph found him, and were as- 
tonished with the rest. But either forgetting for 
a moment who her cjiild really was, or else with a 



202 $ho $ta*t out of Jacob. 

secret pleasure at thus claiming him before the 
great ones of the land, Mary ventured on a re- 
proof: "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? 
beliold ; thy father and I have sought thee sorrow- 
ing." 

' With a sudden assertion of his work, his power, 
his divine authority, Jesus answered : reproving 
her in turn. " How is it that ye sought me ? " he 
said : " wist ye not that I must be about my Fa- 
ther's business?" Not to be her child, not to do 
her pleasure, had he come to earth 5 but to finish 
the work of God, to fulfil his counsel, to carry out 
his plans. Joseph and Mary understood not what 
he said to them ; but according to her old custom 
Mary " kept all these sayings in her heart," wait- 
ing to understand. And he, " learning obedience " 
for our sakes, left the temple, and "went down 
with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject 
unto them." 

i So eighteen years passed by, and of them all 
we have but one short record : " Jesus increased in 
wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and 
man." Like other children in the steady growth 
and development of both mind and body ; but in 
the constant increase in the favour of God, what 
child is like unto him ! ' 

' I wish the Bible told us something more/ said 
Mabel. 

i Something less, do you mean ? ' said mamma. 

No, it tells only that Jesus' time was not yet 

come j and he was unknown, unnoticed by the 



$he ¥eat[$ at $azatieth. 203 

world, dwelling humbly at Nazareth, subject to 
those who were called his parents, busy I suppose 
with their servile calling and occupations.' 

' What was their calling ? ' said Cyril. 

i Joseph was a carpenter ; and as the fashion is 
now in Galilee, he probably travelled about from 
place to place, doing his work. So small a town 
as Nazareth would give him not very much to do, 
in that land of stone houses and unchanging fash- 
ions ; and he would naturally go round the coun- 
try, repairing a roof here, or mending furniture 
there ; and perhaps even as far as to Tiberias, to 
work at the fishing vessels on the lake : following 
his trade now in the houses and now in the open 
air, as his various customers might demand. And 
doubtless He who was called in later times " the 
carpenter's son," went with him, " and was subject 
unto him ; " helping in the work. Daily gaining 
favour with men by the pure beauty and shining 
of his every day life; daily hearing in his heart 
those words from heaven which were afterwards 
spoken in the ears of all : " Thou art my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased." 

6 This is only a little talk, mamma/ said Gracie, 
as our mother closed her book. 

'We are late to-night, 5 said mamma. 'Yes, a 
little talk — but a great deal to think o£' 







CtapfeC 3EJ If. 

JOffiV 7 TffiE BAPTIST. 



, r ^ generally happens/ so mamma began 
next day, ' that God's purpose is accom- 
plished in a very slow, quiet and unseen 
way, Men delight to make a stir and 
a bustle with all they do ; but the Lord guides 
Arcturus silently, and his footsteps are not known. 
" He that believeth shall not make haste ; " for 
God's work is sure, and his time the best. 

6 Nearly thirty years passed by after the return 
of Joseph and Mary from Egypt, and still nothing 
was heard of Him who had been born king of the 
Jews. The generation that slighted the tidings of 
his birth had all passed away, and of the few who 
had welcomed the good news hardly one was left 
alive. Simeon and Anna, Zacharias and Elisa- 
beth, were doubtless all gone : probably Joseph 
too ; and Mary — alone perhaps of all Israel — 
still " kept these things in her heart." The rest 
of the world forgot or did not know. Herod was 
dead, and Archelaus was dead, and so was the em- 
peror Caesar Augustus; and now under Tiberius 
Caesar, one of his successors, Pontius Pilate was 



John the ftaptist. 205 

go\ ernor of Judaea, and another Herod was tetrarch 
of Galilee. John, of whom such great things had 
been predicted, was hid away in the desert, at- 
tracting no attention ; and Jesus himself was liv- 
ing in a little Galilean town, subject to his mother, 
and working I suppose for his daily bread. But 
the testimonies of the Lord are very sure. You 
remember the wonderful eclipse which we saw 
lately, and how the people looked and waited as 
the time drew near ; watching for the first edge of 
that shadow which should hide the sun.' 

' Yes, and they got very impatient too/ said Cy- 
ril ; ' and some of them said they didn't believe 
there would be any eclipse.' 

'But just when the time came,' said mamma, 
' just at the very moment which astronomers had 
foretold; one little, little point of shadow fell — 
and then swept on. Something so, I think, must 
angels have been watching at this time of which 
we read ; watching to see not a shadow, but light 
break over the world. Men had too little knowl- 
edge, or too little faith and patience ; saying, 
" Where is the promise of his coming ? — for all 
things continue as they were;" — but angels knew, 
and waited with the intensest interest for the first 
stir in that action which was to change the world. 
Thirty years before, they had proclaimed glory and 
good will and peace, and yet the world went on its 
old course ; but now " the Lord awaked as one out of 
sleep " — and the stone was cut out without hands, 
which should become a mountain, and fill the 



206 ^be $tatj out of laoob. 

whole earth. "When the fulness of time was 
come/' — not one minute before, not one second 
later, — " God sent forth his Son." 

' It was the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius 
Csesar. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, 
and Herod — a son of Herod the Great — was 
tetrarch of Galilee ; Philip, or Herod Philip — his 
half brother, was tetrarch of Iturea and of the re- 
gion of Trachonitis, lands lying to the east of Jor- 
dan and Galilee ; and Lysanius was tetrarch of 
Abilene, a country between Lebanon and Damas- 
cus. All Syria and Palestine were under the iron 
heel of the Romans; though at Jerusalem, the 
Jews — fierce to maintain and defend their law — 
were still allowed to keep up their sacrifices and 
temple service. Yet the conquerors had interfered, 
even here ; and Annas, the regularly appointed 
high priest, had been deposed by them some years 
before, and Caiaphas his son-in-law installed in his 
place ; but the Jews still held to Annas : therefore 
" Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests." 
And so it was, that while the rulers of the Jews 
were set up and put down by a Roman emperor ) 
while the darkness of unbelief and oppression 
brooded over the whole Jewish land ; on a sudden 
there broke forth a gleam- of the day-spring from 
on high, and this strange cry arose : " Prepare ye 
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." 

'In those Eastern countries,' mamma went on, 
( it is the custom to send some one on before the 
traveller, to see that all is ready for his reception ; 



John the Baptist. 207 

to choose a village where he shall pass the night, 
and then either a honse or a camping ground ; to 
provide refreshments; to prepare everything that 
he may need. And when the traveller is a king, 
all the roads are put in order, the bridges are 
mended, and everything is smoothed and beautified 
for his journey through. Even in riding through 
the streets of a town, a man often runs on before 
to clear the way. And now that the Lord himself 
was at hand, "there was a man sent from God 
whose name was John ; " according as it was writ- 
ten by the prophets: "Behold, I will send my 
messenger, and he shall prepare thy way before 
thee." ' 

6 Mamma/ said Sue, ' was the man sent right from 
heaven, as the angels were ? ? 

* Why, it was John the Baptist/ said Mabel. 

'No, he did not come from heaven/ said mam- 
ma, i but his orders did, and he was in the wilder- 
ness until they came : " the word of God came to 
John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness," in 
the deserts, as the word is in another place. " He 
was in the deserts until the day of his shewing to 
Israel." > 

6 He must have been glad to get out of 'em, I 
should think/ said Cyril. 

' The wilderness of Judaea is not exactly what 
you understand by a desert/ said mamma; 'the 
Arabic name comes from a word signifying "to 
'ead to pasture." It is a wild, uncultivated region, 
with no settled inhabitants; — even in Judah's 



208 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

populous times there were but six cities in the wL- 
derness, — and now there is neither village nor 
road. The wandering tribes of Arabs drive their 
flocks up and down among its deserted solitudes, 
and pitch their black tents for a day or a week 
wherever there is a spot of grass or a pool of 
water. It is a long strip of country, nowhere 
more than nine or ten miles broad, but reaching 
from Jericho down to some forty miles away. East 
of it lies the Dead Sea ; and on the west, rising 
up abruptly with a swift ascent, is the hill country 
of Judah. All its plants and shrubs are peculiar ; 
not a hill-country leaf or flower decks the wilder- 
ness ; and the ground is seamed with deep, wild 
ravines, the rocky sides of which are full of caves. 
At some seasons of the year there is a good deal 
of pasturage, and a sort of smile of blossom and 
freshness lingers there for a little while ; but then 
it all fades beneath the fierce heat of the sun : the 
water brooks dry up, the grass turns white, the 
flocks live only by browsing ; and their wild own- 
ers roam from place to place, seeking hollows in 
the rocks where " the rain has filled the pools/' 
Every one of these throughout the whole wilder- 
ness, is known to them ; and an Arab guide will 
tell you of one miles away, where the gathered 
drops of the spring rain linger the longest. Neither 
rose nor olive nor oak will grow here; but dry 
artemisias and bitter rue, with tamarisks, thorns^ 
salsola, fagonia, zizyphus, and alhagi. Here and 
there, in the spring-time, there are small patches 



John the Baptist. 209 

of cultivation, but with no owner living near. The 
planter dares not stay by his crops, but comes 
again at harvest time to carry home his grain, if 
perchance some Arab tribe have not saved him the 
trouble. It is a region of valleys — the beds of 
winter torrents, seaming and cutting their way 
down the " innumerable round-topped hills, crowded 
one behind another, of the wilderness of Judaea. A 
true wilderness, but no desert, with the sides of 
limestone ranges clad with no shrubs larger than a 
sage or a thyme — brown and bare on all the 
southern and western faces, where the late rains 
had not yet restored the life burnt out by the 
summer's sun, but with a slight carpeting of ten- 
der green already springing up on their northern 
sides. Not a human habitation, not a sign of life, 
meets the eye for twenty miles." # 

6 In this wilderness, dwelling either in one of the 
old towns, now dwindled to a mere hamlet, or per- 
haps living hermit-like in a cave, John passed his 
years of silent unknown preparation for the work 
before him ; until at last he received his instruc- 
tions, and was sent forth — a prophet and messen- 
ger and witness for Christ. The word of God 
came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilder- 
ness/ 

{ 1 should have thought John would have been 
living at Jerusalem, near the temple/ said Gracie. 

' Jerusalem had changed : it was no more like 
the old city of David. Roman power had brought 

* Tristram. 
14 



210 ^h$ Jjftatj out of £aoob. 

in Boman luxury, with its theatres and games. 
Heathen soldiers walked the streets, and heathen 
standards had been seen there ; and although the 
Jews still kept up the old customs of their law and 
nation, yet for the most part these were but a 
form. " They said they were Jews, but were not." 
John would have found a much fairer field for the 
consecrating preparation for his life work, in a cave 
in the wilderness, than in Jerusalem itself. He 
was a Nazarite, pledged even before his birth to a 
life of the strictest purity, and could have had little 
in common with the Pharisees who filled the tem- 
ple ; and his time to rebuke them was not yet 
come. Perhaps too his seclusion was ordered on 
another account ; for the messenger was not needed 
till the king was ready to appear.' 

' Did God send an angel to tell him when to 
go ? ' said Sue. 

' I do not know,' said mamma. ' That phrase, 
" the word of God came," is used in the Bible for 
those special messages which God sent the world 
from time to time, by the mouth of his prophets. 
" The word of God came to Nathan " — " the 
word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah " — 
"the word of the Lord that came unto Hosea." 
But never had any man brought such a message as 
was now sent by John. "Thou, child, shalt go 
before Him " — such had been the promise at his 
birth; and now he came "preaching in the wil- 
derness of Judaea, and saying, Bepent ye : for tha 
kingdom of heaven is at hand." 



Mm the Bapti$i 211 

4 He was a strange looking preacher. No minis- 
ter, in trim black garments ; no priest, in flowing 
robes of spotless white ; but a man rough and 
uncourtly to look at, with long hair and beard 
that had never been cut, and clad in a coarse sack 
of camel's hair, bound around his waist with a 
leathern girdle. Some such sack or shirt was the 
ordinary working dress of the common people ; but 
theirs were generally of wool or cotton ; while 
John wore rough haircloth, the garb of the ancient 
prophets. Thus Isaiah wore sackcloth ; and 
Elijah was " a hairy man, girt with a girdle of 
leather : " so the two prophet witnesses in the Rev- 
elation were clothed in sackcloth. And many a 
false prophet has put on this dress, trying to pass 
for what he was not : you will meet even now in 
that same wilderness, starting up out of one of 
those same caves, men making this pretence. 
Wretched creatures who know nothing of God, 
who do nothing but evil, yet who wear a shirt of 
haircloth and a girdle of leather, and call them- 
selves prophets. Zachariah told of a good time 
coming, when he spoke of that day when people 
" shall no more wear a rough garment to deceive." 

' John therefore came in the dress proper to his 
calling, with his raiment girded for work; and his 
meat was locusts and wild honey/ 

6 Well, what is wild honey ? ' said Sue. ' Don't 
the bees make it all ? ' 

'Yes, and wild honey is made by wild bees. 
Some bees you know live in hives in a garden or 



212 <^he $toi{ out of Jacob. 

on a farm ; but others live far away from men's 
houses, and put their sweet store in such places as 
they can find : in hollow trees and clefts of the 
rock. Sometimes they even hang their combs from 
the tree branches. Arabia and India are full 
of wild bees : and Palestine used to be " a land 
flowing with milk and honey/' — honey was a 
chief article of food, and not merely a dainty, as 
with us. The people kept hives near their houses ; 
and multitudes of bees were at work for them- 
selves, in the woods, and to the furthest corner of 
the wilderness ; filling the hollow trees and lining 
many a hillside cave with sweets. " Honey out of 
the rock," "brooks of honey/' such were some of 
the promised riches of Canaan. " Judah traded in 
honey/' and the men of Samaria had " treasures in 
the field " of honey ; and honey was one of the 
gifts that Jacob bade his sons carry down into 
Egypt. When Saul fought the Philistines, and 
drove them before him, the people came into a 
wood in Mt. Ephraim, " and there was honey on 
the ground," — the trees were so filled with the 
bursting combs, that " the honey dropped." ' 

( I think I should like that/ said Cyril. ' I be- 
lieve I'll go and live in Palestine.' 

' And make yourself sick eating honey/ quoth 
Mabel. 

1 There might be some danger/ said mamma ; 

for the quantity found is often a temptation. 

" Hast thou found honey ? " wrote King Solomon ; 

u eat so much as sufficeth thee : " that is, eat no 



John the Baptist, 



213 



more. Honey was never offered in sacrifice, but 
the Qrstfr'iifcs ^f t were brought as regularly as the 
urst iruits oi Harvest, and being first presented 
before the Lord, became then the portion of his 
priests/ 

'But I don't see how anybody could live on 
honey/ said Mabel. 

' Not on honey alone. Eastern people, however, 
eat sweets much more freely than we do. Butter 
and honey is a favourite dish with them ; &nd the 
Arabs dip their dried fruits in honey, and their ripe 




nuts. But John the Baptist had neither butter 
nor fruits to relish his meal ; " his meat was 
locusts and wild honey." Do you know what 
locusts are ? ' 

' Mamma/ said Gracie, rather slowly — f I've 
been hoping they weren't just like ours ! ? 



214 ^he .$taq out of Jacob. 

'Very much like/ said mamma smiling; — 
6 rather more like our large flying grasshoppers.' 

( that's disgusting/ said Mabel. 

1 No/ mamma answered, c not at all disgusting : 
not half so bad as eating snails, and I cannot see 
why it is much worse than eating frogs/ 

' But, mamma/ said little Sue, ' pussy eats grass- 
hoppers ! ? 

' And pussy eats chicken, too, if she can get it. 
Locusts are a very important article of food in the 
desert regions of the East ; and if you have ever 
watched pussy when she was eating a grasshopper, 
you know pretty well how an Arab manages his 
locust ; only the cat eats hers raw, but the Arab 
throws his into boiling water and salt. Then the 
wings and legs are pulled off (you know what a 
little heap puss leaves on the gravel walk), and the 
locusts are first dried in the sun, and then packed 
away in sacks, ready for use. Sometimes they are 
pounded fine and mixed with flour and water into 
cakes.' 

e Locust cakes ! ' said Cyril. e Well of all wild 
cookery ! ? — 

* You can have them smoked if you prefer it/ 
said mamma ; [ or they may be broiled, or roasted, 
or fried, or stewed in butter, and then spread upon 
bread as we spread anchovy paste. They taste a 
good deal like shrimps. The plain dried locusts 
are never served up as a dish, but each person goes 
to the sack and takes a handful when he chooses/ 

c Just as if they were sugar-plums ! 9 said Sue. 



216 ^he $taq out of laoob. 

'0 they are a great deal better than sugar 
plums, for hungry people/ said mamma. 

'But I don't think it's pleasant to think of — 
that John should have eaten them, after all/ said 
Gracie. 

6 Quite pleasant/ said mamma. l They are fit to 
be eaten, for the law delivered to Moses gives ex- 
press permission to eat them — therefore they 
must be both good and wholesome ; they are sold 
in the market of every town in Arabia, tied on 
strings, in the old, old fashion. In the sculptures 
at Nineveh there are figures of men carrying locusts 
to the king's feast. See, here is a picture of one, 
with the dried locusts tied upon sticks.' 

' What queer things!' said Cyril. ( I don't 
know whether they look most like rabbits or kit- 
tens.' 

' Then I suppose/ said Gracie looking at the pic- 
ture, ' that John dipped his locusts in honey, as you 
say the Arabs do with their nuts, mamma.' 

( Very likely. It is poor sort of food enough ; 
despised by those who can afford better things; 
but in that wild region John would find — as the 
Arabs do now — not much else to eat. 

6 Such then was God's chosen messenger, sent to 
prepare his way: "As it is written in the book 
of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The 
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye 
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain 
and hili ahall be brought low; and the crooked 



John the Baptist. 217 

shall be made straight, and the rough places 
plain." 

( Such proclamations are not uncommon in the 
East. When the Sultan has once or twice sent 
word that he was coming to Syria, all the sheikhs 
and petty rulers issued a general order to the peo- 
ple to prepare his way ; and at once they assem- 
bled along the road he was to travel, and began to 
clear the stones away, and to fill up the hollows, 
and level the heights, and straighten the crooked 
bends.' 

( Yes/ said Cyril, ' it's easy to understand that. 
But how can men prepare God's way ? ' 

6 What stands in the way of his triumphal 
progress through all the world ? ' said mamma. 

1 Why — sin, T suppose,' said Cyril. 

1 And what hinders him in our hearts ? ' 

' Sin again, 1 said Cyril with a shake of his head. 

i And John came preaching, "Repent." Let the 
heights of pride be levelled, and the hollows of 
unbelief be filled up : let the crooked ways of de- 
ceit be made straight, and all roughness and hard- 
ness be cleared away. Then shall all flesh see the 
salvation of God. The things of this world have 
had dominion long enough, — behold, the Lord of 
the whole earth is here. "Repent, for the king 
dom of heaven is at hand." 

i So preaching, so passing along with that strange 
warning cry, John went on through the wilderness 
to the lower part of the Jordan, close to where it 
reaches the Dead Sea, and taking his stand by the 



218 



^bo jjftatt out of laoob. 



sweet flowing waters of life, with the Sea of Death 
so near, he preached the baptism of repentance for 
the remission of sins. Were any ready and willing 
to forsake their sins, to change that mind which 
had hitherto served the world ? — let them come 
and receive the sign of baptism, and enrol them- 
selves under the standard of repentance. It was 
time to throw off their allegiance to earth, for the 
kingdom of heaven was at hand.' 

' What does that mean exactly, mamma ? ? said 
Grace. 

'In the book of the prophet Daniel/ answered 
mamma., ' are these words : " In the days of these 
kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, 
which shall never be destroyed : and the kingdom 
shall not be left to other people, but it shall break 
in pieces and consume all these other kingdoms, 
and it shall stand for ever." Now was that king- 
dom to be set up, now was its Prince to appear and 
claim his own. Yet he would take it at first by 
little and little, but "he must reign till he hath 
put all enemies under his feet." 

( Therefore John warned the people to become 
his friends/ said Gracie. 

'Ay/ said mamma, 'that was the word- — that 
is the word now: "Be ye reconciled to God." It 
was not for nothing John had his girdle drawn/for 
he was in vital work and earnest. Not a sermon- 
izer to interest them, not a philosopher to make 
this or that theory more clear ; not a dainty speak- 
er to delight their fancy ; but a cry ! Of warning, 



John the Baptist. 219 

of entreaty, of agonized life or death ! No wonder 
it echoed far and wide, — the people poured forth 
at its summons. " Then went out to him Jerusa- 
lem, and all Judsea, and all the region round about 
Jordan," — the multitude was so great, that it 
seemed as if the whole country, smitten with a 
sense of guilt, was gathered there upon the river 
shore ; and they " were baptized of him in Jordan, 
confessing their sins." ' 

'What good did the confessing do?' said Ma- 
bel. 

Then mamma answered : " He that covereth his 
sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and 
forsaketh them shall find mercy." John came 
preaching " Repent ! " — change your lives, — set 
your faces towards the kingdom ; and the people 
owned that they needed to be changed ; and were 
baptized as a sign or pledge that they would live 
no longer as they had done. It was no new thing 
among the Jews, this outward token of the inner 
life : from the earliest times men had thus re- 
nounced the defilement of sin in a figure, when 
they were resolved to be clear from its real pollu- 
tion. " Put away the strange gods that are among 
you," said Jacob to his idolatrous household ; " and 
be clean, and change your garments." " Sanctify 
the people to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash 
their clothes," said the Lord to Moses when the 
law was to be given from Mt. Sinai. So David 
said, " I will wash my hands in innocency," — and 
you know w§ us# t&0 same figure now. JSyen 



220 ^ho $tat| out of lacoo* 

among heathen nations this sign was known ; and 
people washed before prayer, and before offering a 
sacrifice, and after a battle, and before they would 
touch any sacred thing. The Jewish priests al- 
ways washed when they were going into the tem- 
ple or near the altar to minister ; the heathen 
priests of Egypt bathed twice every day and twice 
every night as a preparation for their work. And 
thus when John came preaching the baptism of 
repentance, it was like an echo of words spoken 
long before by the prophet Isaiah : " Wash you, 
make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings 
from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; learn to 
do well." ' 

6 And were many of this multitude in real down- 
right earnest ? ? said Cyril. 

' Very many, I doubt not. John could not read 
their hearts, to tell who were the real and who the 
unreal penitents ; but he went on to apply sharp 
tests, that so each man might know about himself. 
Differences of dress and appearance made it easy 
to divide the throng into classes, and to these 
classes he spoke in turn. 

'First of all were the Pharisees and Sadducees, 
the two leading sects among the Jews ; each hos- 
tile to the other, and only alike in thinking them- 
selves better than all the rest of the world. The 
Pharisees had earned their name two centuries be- 
fore, when one of the Greek rulers of Palestine had 
set himself to break down the barriers between the 
Jews ajicl his other subjects, to change Jewish cus? 



John the Baptist 221 

toms and clear away Jewish law. Then certain of 
the Jews made stand against him, resolving to 
maintain their law and customs even to the small- 
est point. And as this was called " the time of the 
mingling," so these men who would not mingle 
were called " Separatists ; " and from the Hebrew 
word which means to separate, came the name 
Pharisee. They are supposed too, to be the same 
sect with the Assideans mentioned in Jewish 
books, — that is 5 godly men, saints. But this good 
beginning had soon passed away. A holy life was 
found to be a difficult mark of separation from the 
rest of the world, — it was far easier to be peculiar 
in a thousand little trifles ; and the Pharisees sunk 
into a sect of mere formalists. They burdened the 
truth with so many useless laws of man's making, 
that the law of God beneath it all was in danger 
of being quite forgotten ; separating themselves 
from others by their dress, their ablutions, and a 
conscience whose scruples reached only to outward 
things. To bear them out in all this, the Phari- 
sees pretended that when Moses received the writ- 
ten law on Mt. Sinai, there was given to him at 
the same time, by an archangel, an oral law, — one 
that was never written down, and never meant to 
be ; but which had been kept as it was given, by 
word of mouth, and preserved from age to age in 
memory and by tradition. In this oral law of 
course they could find what rules they pleased. 
Yet they held firmly to many great points of 
truth, the sovereignty of God, the immortality of 






222 



?£)he $tat{ out of Jacob* 



the soul, and the existence of angels, hoth good and 
bad. But they held too, that for Abraham's sake, 
because of his obedience, God was pledged to make 
all Jews partakers of the Messiah's kingdom on 
earth, and for ever happy in the other world.' 

'I suppose the Jews liked that doctrine, 3 said 
Cyril. 

i Very much : the Pharisees were extremely pop- 
ular; and the highest offices in both State and 
Church were filled by them. 

1 The Sadducees, on the other hand, were a sect 
who not only lived at ease, but made it their pro- 
fession. They were the wealthy and noble class, 
— a sort of priestly aristocracy ; having their de- 
scent as was supposed from Zadok, a chief priest in 
the time of King David, and a very noted and 
faithful man. From this Zadok — or Sadoc — the 
Sadducees were thought to have their name ; the 
old Hebrew books call them Sadocites : and as 
Sadoc means righteous, they like the Pharisees 
began well. But they had gone yet further astray. 
The Sadducees did not want even the burden of 
religious forms ; and shaped their belief according- 
ly. They denied the overruling power of God ; 
denied that there were angels or evil spirits ; and 
declared that the soul of man died with his body. 
They scouted the oral law of the Pharisees, profess- 
ing to believe only the written law, or what they 
chose to find there. 

'Thus the world's two great classes were well 
represented in the multitude that went forth to 



John the Baptist. 223 

hear John the Baptist : on the one hand, those 
who lived as they liked, denying any future ac- 
count or present accountability for the life that 
now is ; on the other, those who hid their life with 
a religion of forms, and made holiness to consist in 
outward works and not in a changed heart. 

6 But John had no silver words for either of them. 
He knew the Pharisees by their peculiar dress, and 
the Sadducees by its richness; and looking on 
them he sounded his cry with even more vehe- 
mence than before, telling both Pharisees and 
Sadducees their common ancestry: — "0 genera- 
tion of vipers" — descended from that old Serpent 
the Devil — " who hath warned you to flee from 
the wrath to come ? " You Sadducees, who say 
there is no future life, no endless death; you 
Pharisees, who teach that the fringes of your gar- 
ments and the number of your prayers can make 
you accepted of God ; what has alarmed you ? 
But if indeed ye are in earnest, then prove it: 
bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and shew a 
changed life springing from a changed heart. 
Think not to say within yourselves, We have 
Abraham to our father; trust not that God is 
pledged for the salvation of every Jew — " If ye 
seek him, he will be found of you ; but if ye for- 
sake him, he will cast you off for ever," and of 
these very stones on the hillside will raise up chil- 
dren unto Abraham. He can give to the poor and 
the despised and the down-trodden of earth the 
very birthright of your proud nation, if he will, 



224 ^be jjftaq out of laoob. 

Already is justice armed, — "the axe is laid at the 
root of the trees : therefore every tree which bring- 
eth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast 
into the fire : " that fire to which you, Pharisees, 
think no Jew can be condemned, and in which 
you, Sadducees, do not believe.' 

6 Mamma/ said Grade, 'I shouldn't think the 
people could have breathed ! — ' 

'I guess nobody doubted what the preacher 
meant, for once,' said Cyril. 

'No,' said mamma, 'his trumpet gave forth no 
uncertain sound 5 and the multitude — wondering, 
stirred — " asked him, saying, What shall we do 
then ? " And again John's words rang out sharp 
and clear, testing their sincerity. This putting an 
extra border on your garments for religion's sake, 
is one thing ; but now " he that hath two coats, 
let him impart to him that hath none ; and he that 
hath meat, let him do likewise," — a very different 
matter from the punctilious washing of hands 
before eating it yourself. Then came to him pub- 
licans, probably from Jericho, which was not far off, 
stepping forth from the crowd to be baptized, and 
asking for a word of special direction : u Master, 
what shall we do ? " ' 

' Did they think themselves worse than anybody 
else, that they could not take general directions ? 
said Cyril. 

1 Other people thought they were,' said mamma ; 
6 their very name was hateful to the Jews, for it 
was a sign of foreign rule and extortion. The Ro- 



John the Baptist. 225 

man government farmed out its revenue in Syria, 
— that is, it gave up the right of taxation in one 
part of the country to one man, and in another to 
another, for which right each man paid down a 
certain sum of money, and then collected the taxes 
to repay himself at his leisure. These upper tax 
farmers, to call them so, these chief publicans, were 
often rich and honourable men ; but they in turn 
farmed out their districts to several others ; and 
the lower publicans, the under tax-gatherers, made 
for themselves a very bad name.' 

1 Mamma, why were they called publicans ? ? said 
Gracie. 

i Because they agreed to pay a certain sum in 
publicum — the Latin word for treasury. And 
having thus paid, of course so much they must 
have back from the people at any rate 5 and what- 
ever they could get beyond this, was all clear gain. 
John struck at the root of their greatest tempta- 
tion as well as of their commonest offence, when he 
answered : " Exact no more than that which is 
appointed you." 

'Then came up soldiers, passing through the 
Jordan valley on their way to Petra, where there 
was an Arab insurrection just then ; and attracted 
by the crowd they too stopped to hear the preach- 
er ; asking him : " And what shall we do ? " — we, 
whose very work is in blood. But John was ready 
for them. " Do violence to no man," he said : 
fight only in a just cause and in a just way : 
" neither accuse any falsely ; and be content with 
your wages." 15 



226 



(|>he $ta*t out of Jacob. 



i With such stirring words, with such searching 
counsel, John came into all the country round 
about Jordan; and the whole country went forth 
to hear him. And the prophecy of the angel was 
fulfilled : " Many of the children of Israel shall 
he turn unto the Lord their God " — making ready 
a people prepared for the Lord. For when people 
do truly repent of their sins, then and not till then 
are they ready to welcome Jesus — a Saviour/ 







efwpfef w. 

BY TEE JORDAN. 

Mt$ if John was sent to prepare the way 
of the Lord, why didn't he tell the people 
about him ? * — Thus Mabel, while mam- 
ma sat silent a few minutes before the afternoon 
talk, and the other children pored over their Bibles. 

' If you were a fireman, rushing into a burning 
house at night/ said mamma, * you would not talk 
to the sleeping people about some strong ladder 
just placed against the wall ; even though you 
knew that the stairs were burned away : first of all 
you would wake the sleepers up. This was pre- 
cisely what John had to do ; to stir up the con- 
sciences of the whole nation ; for the men were in 
a sort asleep, nor even knew their need of a Sa- 
viour. 

' Prom the earliest times, from that very day in 
Eden when God softened the curse with the prom- 
ise of deliverance, it had been known that a Deliv- 
erer would come. From age to age, to Abraham, 
to Moses, to David, by the mouth of one prophet 
after another, had the promise been repeated ; 
while to Daniel had even been told the time of its 



228 $b* $ ten out of laoob, 



fulfilling ; and learned men, counting up the days 
and interpreting the weeks spoken of by Daniel, 
were sure that now the time was at hand. So deep 
and earnest was this belief, as we have seen, that 
many men even braved Herod's anger, rather than 
acknowledge him for king ; and in some form or 
other the hope of the near approach of the Messiah 
was* almost universal. But oppressed by the Ro- 
mans, their land "desolate and overthrown by 
strangers," the pure service of God almost forgot- 
ten among them ; the Jews looked for their Deliv- 
erer as one who should bring earthly triumph and 
worldly honour. They remembered the promise, 
" In his days Jerusalem shall be saved and Judah 
shall dwell safely ; " forgetting that this was the 
name whereby he should be called : " The Lord 

OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." 

s And thus it came to pass, that John's trumpet 
words seemed to many like a call to battle against 
the Romans ; a summons to enlist under a banner 
which should lead them on. Was it Messiah him- 
self who spoke ? " The people were in expectation, 
and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether 
he were the Christ or not." 9 

' That was a fine chance, for any man who was 
ambitious enough/ said Cyril. 

' Ay, but John had " waxed strong in spirit." 
He was not one of those weak ones who wish to 
attract human eyes, or to have a party in the 
church called after their poor mortal names. The 
grace of God never let him forget for a moment 



J8g the Jordan, 229 

that he was but " the prophet of the Highest." At 
once he answered their questioning looks, their 
half-spoken words, saying unto them all : "One 
mightier than I cometh, whose shoes I am not 




Ancient Sandals. 



worthy to bear — the latchet of whose shoes I am 
not worthy to stoop down and unloose." I do not 
deserve to be even his servant, — look not at me, 
but make ready for him.' 

< What's a latchet ? ; said Sue. 

i The shoe worn in those times/ said mamma, 
6 was only a sandal, — a mere sole of wood or felt 
or leather, bound to the foot with a long leather 
or cloth strap : this strap was the latchet. You 
see in the picture how the strap crosses the foot 
and is wound round the ankle, keeping the sandal 
firm in its place. In the East it is still the custom 



230 



t$hz Jjfcaij out of Jacob. 



to change your shoes on entering a house, or to 
throw off the outer-shoe, if one is worn ; and even 
these sandals were taken off at the threshold. 
Where a man was rich enough to have a servant 
follow him about, it was the servant's business to 
unloose the latchet of his shoes ; and if the master 
went into the temple, or to pay a visit, the servant 
not only took off his sandals at the outer door, but 
also bore them about after him, until the master 
was ready to put them on again. Disciples some- 
times did this for their teachers ; but the old 
Rabbis advised them not to do it where they were 
unknown, lest they should be mistaken for ser- 
vants. The very same customs prevail in Pales- 
tine now, though sandals are used no longer. 
When Dr. Bonar went to the Turkish mosque in 
Jerusalem which stands where once the temple 
stood, a poor Arab boy followed him as shoe bearer ; 
untying the Doctor's shoes at the gate of the 
mosque, and then bearing them after him, from 
place to place, until he came out into the street 
again. u Do you think I am the promised One ? " 
said John to the musing people: I am not 
worthy to do for him even the office of a servant. 
"I indeed baptize you with water; but he shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." 
Through him shall " the Spirit be poured on you 
from on high : " "a new heart will he give you, 
and a new spirit will he put within you." " Be- 
hold, the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come 
into his temple" — but take care that you are 



Bu the Jordan. 231 

ready ; for (i he shall be like a refiner's fire." So 
searching, so powerful, shall be his work, that 
nothing false or evil can stand before it : it will 
purify all, or it will burn all. " Judah and Jeru- 
salem shall be purged by the spirit of burning ; " 
and he " will bring the third part through the fire, 
and will refine them as silver is refined, and try 
them as gold is tried." His baptism shall be the 
renewing power of God in your hearts — mine is 
but the sign and preparation for that; as it is 
written: "Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will 
pour out my spirit unto you." " And the Re- 
deemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that 
turn from transgression in Jacob." " Repent, for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

e So spoke the fearless preacher, — bringing up 
doubtless the old prophecies, the old promises, with 
which all were familiar ; and the people listened. 
Before them rolled the swift river, silent witness of 
the power of God ; for thrice near that very spot 
had its rapid tide been stayed, for his people to 
pass over ; and the Jordan — the Descender — 
stood still, at the word of the Lord. 

6 The stream rushed on in its old course yet, with 
fringed banks of willows and reeds and tamarisks 
and oleanders ; and Jericho was there — not the 
old but the new town ; its fertile plain full of 
harvest fields from which many of John's hearers 
had no doubt just come. John knew it well, even 
if the plain itself were not in sight, and few 
preachers have ever had at hand such a wonderful 



232 



t$hz $taq out of laoob. 



scene to preach from. The broad plain ; the site 
of the old city and the buildings of the new ; the 
glorious harvest work that was going on all around. 
Here were men cutting the grain, and others 




Threshing Floor. 



gleaned after the reapers, and others tossed the 
ripe sheaves into heaps like hills ; while long lines 
of loaded camels went constantly from these heaps 
to the threshing floors, where yet other workers 
were beating out the grain after the fashion of the 
East. A Palestine threshing floor is not in a 
clean well-swept barn, as we have it here ; it is 
merely a large round spot in the open field, from 
fifty to a hundred feet broad, levelled and troddea 



Bu the Jordan. 233 

quite hard and smooth, and always kept for just 
this use : so that the different threshing floors near 
a city come to have their own special names. 

' On this broad earth floor the sheaves are laid in a 
circle, and then a horse or a yoke of oxen is driven 
round and round upon them, dragging over the 
spread-out grain a heavy board with sharp stones os 
bits of lava imbedded on the under side. This is the 
mowrej, or threshing machine; and it not only 
beats out the grain, but also crushes and chops up 
the straw into mere chaff. Then grain and chaff 
together are all thrown into the middle of the floor, 
and fresh sheaves are laid out all round the edgb 
When the whole is threshed — and the heap in 
the middle is by this time higher than a man's 
head — the grain is fanned, or winnowed. The 
fan is a flat wooden shovel, called raha. And first 
of all, the husbandman fans the clear space on the 
floor, to blow off all the dust which collects there 
during the threshing : then when the floor is quite 
clean he takes up a shovelful of the mixed grain 
and chaff, and pours it out against the wind, so 
that while the sound wheat or barley drops back 
Upon the floor, the light chaff is carried away by 
the wind, and falls at a little distance, making an- 
other heap. 

6 Looking off towards the glowing plain, — possi- 
bly near enough even to see the wind's work and 
the flying chaff, John burst forth again. I do not 
know your hearts, — such was his thought now : I 
cannot tell which of you is in earnest; "but one 



234 Sfce $tatt out of laooK 



mightier than I cometh." " Whose fan is in his 
hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and 
will gather the wheat into his garner; but the 
chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." For 
when Jesus comes into the world, or into any 
heart, searchingly, all that is not purified by the 
fire of his power and holiness must be consumed.' 

i I wonder the people could understand John, he 
used so many images/ said Mabel in her discon- 
tented way. 

' They were old images, very familiar to every 
Jew/ answered mamma ; * the books of the law and 
the prophets were full of just such. " The ungod- 
ly are like the chaff, which the wind driveth 
away." — u They are as stubble before the wind," 
— "as chaff driven by the whirlwind." Neither 
was that fire a new idea. " The day cometh," said 
the prophet Malachi, " that shall burn as an oven ; 
and all the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall 
be as stubble : and the day cometh that shall burn 
them up, saith the Lord of hosts." No image 
could be more forcible. The utter dryness of the 
chaff, its helpless drift before the wind, the fierce- 
ness of its burning, all shadowed forth the words : 
" If mine hand take hold on judgment, I will re- 
ward them that hate me." No human power could 
stay a fire once lighted there, — if the flame be 
kindled it makes thorough work. We can imagine 
how John reminded the people of these old warn- 
ings, going back ever and anon to his own special 
menage; " Repent," ' 



By the Iot[<3an, 235 

1 Mamma/ said Sue in her plaintive voice, i I 
want to hear some more about " Jesus loves me ! " ' 

i Jesus was close at hand then/ said mamma, 
wrapping her arms about the child ; i for " in those 
days " — on some one of those very days when 
John was preaching, he came from Nazareth to 
Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. Not by 
special appointment, with a day set apart for him 
alone and the riverside kept clear from the crowd, 
— not as a king did Jesus come to be baptized, but 
as a servant ; made in all things like unto his peo- 
ple, and " separate from sinners " only in heart. 
Down amid the self-righteous Pharisees, the care- 
less Sadducees, the despised publicans ; pushed and 
jostled by all, unknown even to the true penitents, 
He came, in whose sight even the heavens are not 
clean. " He was in the world, and the world was 
made by him, and the world knew him not." 

' One eye alone recognized him ; one heart alone 
sprang forth in eager welcome : the rough-clad 
preacher at the river brink looked up and knew his 
Lord. " I have need to be baptized of thee," he 
said, " and comest thou to me?" — and he forbade 
him, overwhelmed at the mere thought. With 
gracious, kingly condescension the Lord answered 
John's scruples ; not denying that they were well 
founded, but waiving them by his royal will. 
" Suffer it to be so now," he said; for thus must he 
" fulfil all righteousness," even the outward cere- 
monies of righteousness, who is to " bear the sins 
of many." ' 



236 



t$h$ $tat[ out of Jacob. 



i And John had Mary's kind of humility, and 
took the honour God gave hiin, without a word,' 
said Gracie. 

6 Without another word, apparently. " Then he 
suffered him," — " and Jesus was baptized of John 
in Jordan." ; 

' Mamma, do they know the place ?* 




FOKD OF THE JOKDAN. 



1 No, but it was probably at one of the fords near 
Jericho ; where there is a break in the steep banks, 
and the shore slopes gently down, and the river is 
clear of jungle for a little way ; so that the multi- 
tude could stand at the water's edge. At somo 
one of these spots I suppose John took his stand, 



Bu the Jordan. 237 

perhaps out on the stepping stones of the ford, a 
better footing than the soft shore, and where the 
people could come to him one by one without 
crowding. It seems that all the other comers, for 
that time, had been baptized already ; " And Je- 
sus, when he was also baptized, went up straight- 
way out of the water," and stood on the riverside, 
praying ; when of a sudden u the heaven was 
opened unto him " — was rent or torn, the word is ; 
" and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape 
like a dove," and lighted upon him, "And, lo, a 
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased." 

' u And Jesus began to be about thirty years of 
age." This was the age at which the scribes, hav- 
ing finished their preparatory training, were sent 
forth to teach ; being first solemnly ordained by 
the laying on of hands, and publicly declared to be 
ready for their office. " I admit thee," said the 
chief Rabbi, " and thou art admitted to the Chair 
of the Scribe." But our Lord Jesus received au- 
thority from God himself ; and upon him the Holy 
Spirit rested: "the spirit of wisdom and under- 
standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit 
of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." ? 

i Mamma/ said Sue, 6 who spoke ? ' Then mam- 
ma answered — 

i God the Father spoke, to God the Son ; upon 
whom came down the visible presence of God the 
Holy Spirit: these three persons of the one true 
God, who wrought together at the creation of the 



238 $be ^tart out of Jacob. 

world, and now again for its redemption. It was 
the sign from heaven, the divine assurance, that 
this was the Promised One — the Messiah. " Thou 
art my Son," said God a thousand years before, by 
the mouth of David ; and again three hundred 
years later, by Isaiah the prophet: "Behold my 
servant, whom I uphold : mine elect, in whom my 
soul delighteth : I have put my Spirit upon him." 
This should be his office, this his consecration, — 
His, " who being in the form of God," " took on 
him the form of a servant," and was " found in 
fashion as a man." At thirty years of age, too, 
the priests began their work ; and now, called by 
a voice from the excellent glory, sealed and con- 
secrated by the Holy Spirit, Jesus went forth, to 
teach those who would " learn of him ; " " to make 
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in ever- 
lasting righteousness." The Son of God with 
power, he was also — • as really, as truly — the Son 
of David.' 

6 But that's just what I don't understand ! ' said 
Cyril. 

6 How can you ? ' answered mamma : ( " the mys- 
tery of Christ manifest in the flesh," faith can re- 
ceive, but no mortal reason can explain. John 
tells first of the Lord's divine nature ; but two of 
the other evangelists give the long human gene- 
alogy; tracing back his royal descent as a king 
from David, and shewing the line unbroken, and 
the title perfect to the throne. Matthew in his ac- 
count gives the lineage of Joseph, the supposed 



Bg the londan. 239 

father of Christ, from whom in the eye of the law 
he received the inheritance; but Luke gives the 
title by blood, through the ancestors of Mary his 
mother; although (according to Jewish custom) 
her name does not appear. "Being (as was sup- 
posed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of 
Heli," etc. Heli, it is understood, was Mary's 
father; and as a woman's name might not have 
regular place in any Jewish record, unless in spe- 
cial cases, her husband's name was generally put 
there instead. Thus the long line goes back from 
point to point, like that of any other child of 
earth ; now shining with the name of one who was 
"a man after God's own heart," and another who 
was called " the friend of God ; " now falling into 
the deep shadow of some one who " did exceeding 
wickedly;" rising to the throne of worldly splen- 
dour with David, or sinking to the level of poor 
Eahab of Jericho: back step by step, "in all 
points like as we are," even to Adam.' 

c Mamma,' said Mabel, ( did John stop preaching 
then, as soon as he knew that Jesus had really 
come ? ' 

' No, indeed,' said mamma ; ' but he went on to 
pjraach Jesus as he never had done before. Jesus 
himself did not stay among the people then, but 
a retuimed from Jordan ; " and even as he went, 
John began to declare him to the throng around. 
" This was he," he cried, " of whom I spake, He 
that cometh after me is preferred before me : for 
he was before me." This One who was here 



240 t^he $tei| out of Jacob. 

among you, whom even now you see in the dis- 
tance, is no man like me, — " he was before me : " 
his goings forth have been from of old — from 
" the days of eternity." " And of his fulness have 
all we received, and grace for grace." 

' Everything that we have or hope for/ so mam- 
ma went on, closing her book and turning towards 
us, ( comes to us through Christ ; for " it pleased 
the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." 
" In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge ; " " in him dwelleth all the fulness of 
the Godhead bodily:" "in everything we are en- 
riched by him." He is " the Light of the Morning " 
to one in darkness ; he is " as showers that water 
the earth " to one in need. He is " a hiding place 
from the wind " of God's displeasure, " a covert from 
the tempest " of sin and death ; " the shadow of a 
great E-ock in the weary land " of sorrow and toil 
and pain. " A strength to the poor " — " the hope 
of his people;" his very name "is as ointment 
poured forth." Grace for grace has God given to 
us through him, as if one mercy were but the foun- 
dation for another. Moses indeed was commanded 
to give us the law, said John, the list of those 
things " which if a man do, he shall live by 
them ; " but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 
From the beginning he never appeared save in 
mercy ; and now at last he has come once for all, 
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, to make 
known the gift; by grace. In him every promise 
is fulfilled : grace and truth come by the Saviour, 



J3u the lo^an, 241 

the Anointed One, the Son of God. And then 
John went on to tell them that this Mighty One 
was no stranger among them, but that all they had 
ever known of God they knew through him. " No 
man hath seen G >1 at any time," said the preach- 
er ; — as he spake unto Moses, " there shall no 
man see my face and live : " no mortal eyes could 
bear the transcendent glory of that holy presence. 
But some manifestation you have always had : 
" the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of 
the Father," — in his secret counsels, in his deep- 
est love, — "he hath declared him." Sometimes 
by a voice, as to Adam ; or as an angel, to Abra- 
ham ; or as in human form, to Jacob. To Moses 
he shewed himself in fire, and to the Israelites in a 
pillar of cloud: "he is the image of the invisible 
God." This is he of whom I spake.' 

16 






THE TEMPTATION. 




$,' said mamma, ( at every step cf 
this wonderful story you must remembei 
the perfect divine nature and the com- 
plete human nature of our Lord Jesus; else you 
can never understand the displays of his mighty 
power, or the prayers of his human need. " The 
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us : " He 
to whom it had been said, " Thy throne, God, is 
for ever and ever," was " made a little lower than 
the angels, for the suffering of death." At every 
point you will see these two. 

6 His work on earth was now begun. Having 
first shewn himself among the people for a little, 
he received baptism at the hands of John, and 
was " anointed with power from on high ; " thus 
" numbered with transgressors," yet declared to be 
that One " in whom is no sin." And having stood 
among the throng of guilty ones ; having come 
near to our pollutions, to our need, he was now to 
encounter alone our great adversary. "Immedi- 
ately the Spirit drive th him into the wilderness." 
It seems/ mamma went on, s as if to each person 



$he temptation. 243 

of tlie Godhead was reserved some special power 
or influence over man; and this of which we 
speak has always been put forth by the Holy 
Spirit. "As soon as I am gone," said Ahab's 
messenger to Elijah, " the Spirit of the Lord shall 
carry thee whither I know not." Go seek thy 
master, said the sons of the prophets to Elisha 
"lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hatt 
taken him up, and cast him upon a mountain, or 
into some valley." " The Spirit lifted me up and 
took me away," said the prophet Ezekiel ; some- 
times by visible means — " he put forth the form 
of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head, 
and lifted me up ; " or only in seeming — " In the 
visions of God brought he me into the land of 
Israel." So in later times " the Spirit of the Lord 
caught away Philip" from the eunuch's side, 
" and he was found at Azotus," thirty miles away.' 

* All that is never done now ? ' said Cyril. 

'Not in an outward, visible way, and yet just 
as truly/ said mamma. ' There is no vision of 
glory or of duty comes into any heart but by the 
Spirit; and often now some Philip "is found at 
Azotus "— brought there he himself cannot tell 
why nor by what impulse, to do the Lord's work ; 
" for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
are the sons of God." 

i So " Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the 
wilderness," to consecrate himself utterly to the 
work he came to do ; to count its cost, to meet all 
that human weakness or hellish skill could urge 






244 t$h$ $taq out of laoob. 

against it. If sin had been there, too, we should 
have been lost for ever ; but that blessed One 
" could not look upon iniquity." 

i He was led into the wilderness — into the wild 
desolate border of the Dead Sea, most probably, 
with its jagged cliffs and black ravines, and utter 
solitude : "he was with the wild beasts," — none 
else. And there he fasted forty days and forty 
nights; his life preserved by a miracle, yet with 
the need of food keen and unsatisfied. Twice in 
the Bible we are told of such a fast. When 
Moses was in Mt. Sinai to receive and write down 
the law, for forty days he did neither eat bread 
nor drink water ; and when Elijah, fleeing for his 
life from Ahab's wicked queen, was fed by angels, 
" he went in the strength of that meat forty days." 
So in the strength of his divine love and purpose, 
receiving for men not the law but free grace, our 
Lord Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights in 
the wilderness. Fasting was a sign of complete 
submission of the will, of supplication, of humilia- 
tion, of deep mourning, — Jesus kept that fast for 
our sins.' 

And mamma's face dropped on her hands, with 
a gush of such bitter-sweet tears as moved even 
our wilful Mabel. 

1 He kept it,' mamma went on presently, 
' through the miraculous power of his divine love. 
He was in the wilderness forty days, and in those 
days he did eat nothing. Great fasts were ordered 
in former times, when whole cities or nations be- 



t$hz temptation, 245 

sought God to turn away his anger from them; 
but Jesus made intercession for the sins of the 
whole world, in all ages ; assuming them, con- 
fessing them, devoting himself to the world's re- 
demption. 

1 The world knew nothing of it : the multitudes 
away off by Jordan dreamed not of the mighty 
conflict even then beginning, through which they 
too might be more than conquerors ; but the devil 
knew, and prepared himself for battle. If, through 
the human nature even then fainting from the 
long fast, he could gain entrance into that sinless 
heart ; if he could interrupt this consecration, this 
humiliation for the world's sake, and put ease and 
comfort before love, it would be a great point 
gained. And this was a sure way of approach, 
as the devil knew from long experience. With 
the pleasant look and sweet taste of an apple he 
had bought Adam and Eve ; with a mess of pot- 
tage he wiled away Esau's birthright; with the 
mere thought of the fish, the melons, and the 
cucumbers of Egypt, he had filled the hearts of 
the Israelites with murmurs against that God who 
had delivered them from the house of bondage. 
" The lust of the flesh " — bodily ease and indul- 
gence and pleasure — had always been a powerful 
weapon in Satan's hand. Now to prove its weight 
again. 

"'■If thou be the Son of God," he said, "com- 
mand that these stones be made bread," — Divine 
Power has before now " spread a table in the wil- 
derness." 



246 $he $tatj out of laoob. 

'So spoke Satan, — the adversary of God and 
man ; but no human selfishness answered his ap- 
peal. Jesus never forgot us, nor that he had come 
to deliver us from evil, according to the will of 
God. He would not shorten by a moment nor 
lighten by a touch his time of humiliation and suf- 
fering. "It is written," he answered, "that man 
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." To do 
his will, to take what he sends and when he sends 
it, that is man's life.' 

' Mamma/ said Sue, c was the devil really there V 
and did he talk out loud? ' 

' He was really there/ said mamma, 'but whether 
he shewed himself and spoke out loud I do not 
know. But I think, Sue, he kept himself hid, and 
only whispered, as he does to us. So I think it 
was only in imagination, perhaps, that he next 
brought Jesus to Jerusalem, and set him on a pin 
nacle of the temple ; filling his' mind with thoughts 
and suggestions, as he does ours. "The lust of 
the flesh" had failed, and now Satan tried another 
favorite weapon called " The pride of life." " If 
thou be the Son of God," he said, " cast thyself 
down from hence : " there will be no danger ; " for 
it is written, He shall give his angels charge con- 
cerning thee : and in their hands they shall bear 
thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against 
a stone." * 

' There might be little danger, but what use ? ' 
said Cyril. 



(phe ?|>empfofio&. 



247 



'The pride of life/ answered mamma; 'ambi- 
tion, self-assertion. For thirty years had Jesus 
lived in the world, unknown save as the carpenter's 
son : now came the temptation to shew himself to 




Valley of Jehoshaphat. 



the people as he really was : to come among them 
suddenly in some startling and splendid manner. 
The pinnacle of the temple was I suppose the bat- 
tlement or raised edge-— which by law must sur- 
round every roof — on the south wing of the tern- 



348 l|5ho $tatt out of Jacob. 

pie, overhanging the valley of Jehoshaphat. This 
wing was a part of the magnificent cloisters built 
by Herod, and was called the royal porch. It was 
in fact a triple porch, resting on four rows of im 
niense columns : fifty cubits, or seventy feet high at 
each end, but in the middle rising to double that 
height. From its outer edge the valley went sheer 
down five hundred feet, so that according to Jose- 
phus, "one could not see the bottom," and he who 
looked over would turn sick and dizzy. To this 
pinnacle, either really or in imagination, was the 
Lord Jesus brought ; and the devil said to him, 
Cast thyself down. The valley is deep, but safe ; 
for angels shall bear thee up. I know what is 
written, too. And I think,' said mamma, ' that 
Satan, who is extremely well read in history, re- 
ferred here to an old Jewish tradition: to wit, 
that when Christ should come to restore Israel to 
her glory, to judge those nations that had op- 
pressed her, the gathering point should be this 
same valley, and the Lord, the Judge, should 
stand on the Mount of Olives beyond. If then 
(so reasoned Satan) the promised Deliverer should 
descend into this valley as it were from the very 
skies, all men would at once receive him ; not one 
could doubt for a moment. And then there would 
be just so much time saved. But Jesus answered, 
"It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
God." ' 

' Mamma, what does that mean ? ' said Gracie< 
* How can one do that ? ' 



^ho temptation. 249 

i We can tempt God in several ways/ said mam- 
ma. ' One is by denying his power, — open unbe- 
lief may tempt the Lord to assert his sovereignty 
in open judgment ; but another much more com- 
mon tempting of God is by want of trust, — that 
secret unbelieving fear which lies hid in many a 
heart. So the Israelites tempted God, doubting his 
promise and power : " They limited the Holy One 
of Israel," saying, " Can he provide flesh for his peo- 
ple ? " — " Is the Lord among us or not ?" — 
they tempted him to forsake them, and not provide. 
So they tempted him in the wilderness again, say- 
ing in their fear, " Would God we had died in the 
land of Egypt ! — wherefore hath the Lord brought 
us into this land ? " And then the Lord uttered 
those terrible words : u As ye have spoken in mine 
ears, so will I do unto you " — " and ye shall know 
my breach of promise." And so yet again, when 
having with hearts full of fear refused to fight the 
Canaanites at God's command, they then against 
his orders gave battle, — and the Lord left them to 
fight alone, and to suffer terrible defeat. To doubt 
the power, wisdom, and mercy and truth of the 
Lord ; to be unwilling to wait his time, and to accept 
his pleasure, and to follow him anywhere, that is 
to tempt him. Satan seemed to say nothing very 
bad — it was but proposing to save time and trou- 
ble, and to make a splendid appearance in the eyes 
of men ; but Jesus answered, " Thou shalt not 
tempt the Lord." 

* Again the devil changed his weapon, and came 



250 ^bo $tatj out of Jacob. 

armed with " the lust of the eyes," — with earthly 
power, desire, and gain. In a moment of time, 
from some imagined lookout, he set forth all the 
kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them ; 
saying, " All this will I give thee." ' 

' Why he couldn't do that, could he ? ' said Sue. 

1 " The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich," ' 
said mamma, 'and "by him kings reign;'" but 
sometimes such power is put in Satan's hands, and 
he gives worldly good — not indeed " to whomso- 
ever he will " — but to whom the Lord permits.' 

6 So that if people are too eager for gold,' said 
Cyril, i and tempt God by trying for it in unlaw- 
ful ways, God lets the devil give it to them.' 

' Yes, I think so,' said mamma ; i but Satan 
always makes the same condition : " If thou wilt 
fall down and worship me." ' 

' The devil might have had more sense that 
time,' said Mabel. 

6 He had so seldom been refused,' said mamma, 
( it was such a dazzling offer to human eyes, " the 
devil, which deceiveth the whole world," for once 
deceived himself.' 

' Didn't he know that my Jesus wouldn't sin, 
for anything ? ' said Sue. 

6 1 suppose he hoped in spite of what he knew. 
Adam was a sinless being when Satan tempted 
him, but he fell ; and the divine strength and 
grace which were in the second Adam, Satan had 
yet to learn. Perhaps he was trying to find out if 
this was reallv the Son of God. And now he was 



$he temptation. 251 

in no doubt ; as He whom Satan had hoped to lead 
captive at his will, ordered him from his presence 
with that voice of power which nothing earthly nor 
heavenly nor in hell can withstand. Jesus an- 
swered, " Get thee behind me, Satan — get thee 
hence : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 
Satan had presented himself as an angel of light 
(he can do that) either visibly, or by the plausible 
nature of his words, but now he knew that he was 
known ; and could no more resist the Lord's com- 
mand, than he had been able to hide himself from 
the eyes of the Lord's omniscience. " He departed 
for a season," — baffled, but not yet slain ; having 
great wrath, because knowing that now "he had 
but a short time." } 

4 And then came the real angels/ said Sue. 

* Then came softly sweeping in a troop of white- 
robed angels, and ministered to the wants of Him 
who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
without sin.' 

1 How in all points ? 9 said Cyril. ' I don't see 
that. There were but three temptations — and I 
thought we had about five hundred.' 

? Try/ said mamma, — ' see if you can find any 
one of the five hundred which does not hinge upon 
bodily ease and comfort, ambition, or gain; eack 
wrapped up as they all must be, in unbelief.' 

c And I suppose,' said Gracie thoughtfully, * that 
the devil has always some special end of his own 
to gain, — it'i ngt tlie mere evil for its own 






262 $he $taq out of lasob. 

that lie cares about. So if he could have persuaded 
the Lord Jesus to give up his humiliation and obe- 
dience and suffering for us, then we never could 
have got free.' 

6 Yes/ said mamma, c Satan well remembered 
that after the permission, "Thou shalt bruise his 
heel " — came the assurance ; " He shall bruise thy 
head."' 

{ It must have been a grand sight to see, though 
— just for once/ said Mabel slowly ; < " The king- 
doms of this world and the glory of them ! " ? 

Then mamma answered : 

i " The world passeth away, and the lust thereot . 
but he that doeth the will of God abideth for 




Wwwwm OF JO&PAH* 




efatie* 3E3JJJ. 

J5Y raE JORDAN. 

$ all the world/ said mamma, unfolding 
her map, ' there is no river like the Jor- 
dan, no valley like that through which it 
flows ; for it lies below the level of the 



6 What is the level of the sea ? ' said Mabel. 

( The great lakes and seas of the world/ an- 
swered mamma, c almost all communicate with each 
other ; so that while some fill a deeper hollow than 
others, the surface level of all is about the same. 
If you take an apple, and stick on it bits of wax 
or bread for the dry land of the world, with its 
mountains and valleys, the skin of the apple will 
represent what we call the ocean level, — our fixed 
measuring point for the height of different parts of 
the land surface. We say a mountain is so many 
feet high, meaning that the top of it rises so far 
above the ocean level; although the height from 
its adjoining valley may not be half so much. 
Now most rivers rise among the hills, upon high 
ground, and then flow down towards the sea and 
[>our out their waters at its level. But the Jordan 



&u the Jordan, 255 

soon reaches that level ; and then rushes down and 
down into the earth as it were, through a deep 
rent in the earth's surface, until it is as far down 
as the deepest mine in Cornwall ; and empties it- 
self into the Dead Sea more than thirteen hundred 
feet below the ocean level.' 

8 What sort of a queer place does it rise in, to be- 
gin with ? ? said Cyril. 

' At the foot of Mt. Hermon ; among its spurs, 
fed by its melting snows, and passes through three 
lakes on its way ; first the little Phiala, then 
through several miles of marshy ground it enters 
Lake Hiileh — the " Waters of Merom," and then 
sweeps on : sometimes broad and placid, sometimes 
foaming and hurrying between steep banks, until it 
glides softly into the Sea of Galilee. There was an 
old tradition that the waters of the river did not 
mingle with those of the Lake, but kept on their 
course straight through ; and this much at least is 
certain, they bring out no more than they brought 
it : the river is just as large where it enters the 
Lake, as where it leaves it. Hurrying on its 
course now, — winding, turning, roaming about > 
now shooting like "a silver arrow," between its 
banks, then circling about in a green meadow, 
then clasping a little island in its swift embrace, 
or dashing in sheets of foam past cliffs of white 
limestone and black ledges of volcanic rock : fretted 
by the stones in a hundred rapids, leaping down 
in as many falls. For its bed is a constant swift 
descent 5 the river falls more than thirteen hun- 



266 t&te SUm out of Jacob* 



dred feet in its course, well earning its name of the 
Jordan — " the Descender." But I cannot begin 
to tell you how crooked it is, ■ — " it wriggles here, 
there, and everywhere ; " # and to go an air line dis- 
tance of sixty miles will travel two hundred. 

' The long valley through which the Jordan flows 
is from six to twelve miles wide, walled in by 
mountain ranges on either hand : on the east the 
straight line of Moab, five thousand feet high ; on 
the west the lower hills of Samaria. Here and 
there is a rent in this wall, and some mountain 
stream makes its way down to join the river, its 
course lying like a green ribband upon the shoulder 
of the hills ; or a deeper cleft marks the edge of a 
ravine scarce fifty feet broad, with sides rising 
sheer up for a thousand feet. From these heights 
to the river there is a regular succession of de- 
scents ; most of all near the lower end. Low 
cone-shaped hills edge away from the foot of the 
mountain range, their pale yellow or white slopes 
rolling down in billowy confusion to the edge of 
the first terrace. The second terrace, undulating 
and shrubby, lies two hundred feet lower ; then 
fifty to a hnndred feet lower still comes a flat jun- 
gle of tamarisks and willows. Through this, with 
banks five to ten feet high, flows the Jordan ; wan- 
dering along in a sort of broad crack in the plain, 
fringed with living green, decked with a multitude 
of flowers. So hidden, so wrapped in its own ver- 
dure, that often you cannot catch a gleam of the 
* Tristram. 



By the Jordan. 257 

water until you are at its very brink. " You are 
riding through a cloud of dust, hot ashes and 
blinding sulphur ; a mountain wall in front and on 
your flanks ; not a tree, not a shrub, not a blade of 
grass in sight ; no more sign of vegetation round 
you than you would expect to see in a furnace ; 
when suddenly, with a start, your feet are among 
wild plants and your shoulders pressing against 
green boughs." ' # 

1 Is it so hot there ? ' Cyril asked. 

'Hot'? — I can hardly tell you about it/ said 
mamma; 'that is, at some seasons of the year. 
The valley — " the Great Plain " of the Jews, the 
" Ghor " of the modern Arabs, — lies so low, is so 
shut in, that the heat is withering. And the cli- 
mate there is not like ours, with its cool nights and 
frequent rains: the sky is cloudless and glaring 
from the early dawn till night ; the heat " enough 
to madden you," the light intolerable. No clouds, 
no shadows ; only shining white limestone heights 
beyond the dazzling plain.' 

6 At some seasons, you said, mamma ? 7 

i At some seasons. At others the plain is a wil- 
derness of blossoms and fruit. Here " a yellow sea 
of grain," there, the banks clothed u three feet 
deep with flowers." ' 

i what sorts, mamma ? ; said Gracie. 

' Many sorts, — varying from place to place. In 
one, for instance, are mullein-shaped flowers of a 
fine crimson, growing seven feet high; with a 

* Dixon. 
17 






258 $ho $tat[ out of laoob. 

river fringe of willow and oleander and laurustinus, 
and beyond thein small oaks and cedars. Then 
creeping mosses, sprinkled with little shining 
white flowers that twine in among them ; and 
willow branches dipping and floating in the stream. 
Birds, too, in great numbers, rich in colour and 
song ; and wild boars in the thicket, and the track 
of a tiger upon the shore. Then comes a place of 
sloping banks, covered lightly with grass and 
weeds and wild oats ; with patches of yellow dai- 
sies here and there, and a line of purple" blossoms 
fringing the base of the next terrace. And be- 
neath and among all these, the scarlet anemones 
cover the ground like a mat : "a sea of scarlet 
bloom," with " little golden islands." ? * 

c Those were the yellow daisies/ said Sue. 

' Sometimes in such a place/ mamma said, open 
ing one of her books, ' the wind and the flowers to- 
gether make wonderful work: this is what some 
eyes have seen there : " When the wind, sweeping 
down the gorges of the hills, passed over the plain, 
a broad band of crimson marked its course ; for 
the wild grain, light and elastic, bent low, and re- 
vealed the flowers beneath it, — presenting the ap- 
pearance of a phantom river of blood, suddenly 
issuing from the earth, and again lost to sight, to 
reappear elsewhere, at the magic breath of the 
breeze." 9 

6 Did you see that, mamma ? ? said Gracie. 

c No, it was later in the season when I was at 

♦Lynch. 



Uy the Jordan. 259 

the Ghor, and then everything was burnt up. 
Wild oats as high as a horse's back, purple thistles 
that would overtop the head of his rider, all turned 
white with the fierce heat of the sun.' 

' What becomes of the people then ? ' said Cyril. 

1 There are none there ; no people live in the 
Ghor: there is neither village nor city in all its 
length and breadth. Wandering Arabs, or hus- 
bandmen from a distance, come and plant fields 
here and there ; but these go away again, until the 
time of harvest. For when the summer heat sets 
in, the Ghor is like nothing you can think of but a 
furnace. Only everywhere there are two fresh, 
cool things in sight ; the white-topped peak of Mt. 
Hermon, lifting its calm, glittering crown far off 
against the northern sky ; and the green course of 
the river, winding along in the bottom of the val- 
ley : the stream itself you cannot see, except in 
little bits at a time.' 

6 1 should think you could see it all, from such 
high ground on each side such a valley,' said Cy- 
ril. 

6 No,' said mamma, c only a green line. From the 
foot of the mountains you ride across the sunburnt 
plain, among white sand-hills and scattered thorn 
bushes, till you come suddenly to the edge of a 
bank that overhangs the valley. You pick your 
way down by a winding path through the bushes 
to another broad terrace and cross that ; then down 
another fifty feet or so into a complete thicket; 
and crossing that, you stand on the edge of a deep 



260 $he $tan out of laoob. 

cleft fall of trees, whose tops are on a level with 
your feet. Through this cleft rushes the Jordan. 
But in the rainy season, it rises up far above the 
edge of the cleft, and u overflows all its banks in the 
time of harvest." It is a beautiful jungle ; with 
willows, tamarisks, white and pink oleanders, 
exquisite flowering canes, hollyhocks, marigolds, 
laurustinus and white asphodel. And in the 
thicket beyond, wolves and jackals and wild boars 
and tigers find cover, and are sometimes driven 
out by " the swellings of Jordan," as were the lions 
in former times. There are no lions now.' 

1 Mamma, how broad is the stream ? ' said Gra- 
cie, — ' and how deep ? * 

'According to the character of its banks. 
Where they are low and soft, the river spreads out 
broad and shallow, — eighty yards across perhaps, 
and but two feet deep : in another place it is six 
feet, in another ten, and narrower in proportion.' 

'But I don't see,' said Cyril, 'how anybody 
could baptize people in such a river as that. They 
couldn't get to the water. 5 

1 There are fords, you know,' said mamma, ' at 
places where the banks slope gently and the cane 
brake is broken away, and where perhaps some turn 
of the current has thrown up a bar. Such is the 
ford near Jericho. But even at the fords it is hard 
to cross sometimes, the current is so swift and 
strong ; indeed it is impossible to cross safely unless 
you understand the river and choose just the right 
place.' 



Bu the Jordan. 261 

6 Thai's like the Jordan of our hymns/ said 
Gracie, — ' I wondered at first why the name was 
used. And we cannot see the stream, till we are 
close upon it, — and then people either get over 
safe to the Promised Land, or are swept away 
down to the Dead Sea.' 

'"And Jesus knoweth all the fords," ' said 
mamma softly, quoting her favourite Rutherford. 

' Ah !' said Gracie with one of her glad exclama- 
tions, 'that was what the shining ones meant in 
the Pilgrim's Progress : " for, said they, you shall 
find it deeper or shallower according as you believe 
in the King of the place." But, mamma, I don't 
quite understand why all the flowers and freshness 
should be near the river. I mean I don't see how 
the two Jordans are alike in that.' 

Mamma's eyes grew full. * They are not all — 
at all times,' she said : ' sometimes the whole re- 
gion is in bloom : but those flowers cannot stand 
" the burden and heat of the day." It is " the tree 
planted by the rivers of water," whose leaf shall 
not wither : and he who looks not on the things 
which are seen, but on the things that are unseen, 
he can say: "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, 
with thy likeness." No wonder the blossoms hide 
the stream ! 

6 John had come " into all the country round about 
Jordan : " into " the circles of Jordan," — as the 
word is: like the " links" of the Scottish rivers. 
Not into the higher desert plain, but low down by 
the river, into the rich green " circles " that lay 






262 ^ho $taq out of Xacob, 

about its many crooks and bends. Beginning at 
the lower end of Jordan, John slowly made his 
way up, preaching and baptizing as he went ; and 
had now reached Bethabara, beyond Jordan — 
that is, on the east side. Bethabara means " the 
house of passage/' and the place must have been 
near one of the fords, — probably that one five 
miles above Jericho, where the great highway from 
Jerusalem crosses the river. It is supposed that 
Bethabara is the same with Bethnimrah — an old 
time place, two miles back from this ford on the 
east side ; where there was not only a fine fountain 
belonging to the village, but by which also the 
Wady Sha'ib poured down its current to the Jor- 
dan. Bethnimrah means " the house of sweet wa- 
ter ; " and in some old Jewish versions the name is 
spelled almost exactly like Bethabara. The ford 
here is about breast high. 

( Here John was baptizing ; and it seems the peo- 
ple had not believed him when he answered their 
musings about him at the lower ford, but had car- 
ried back an uneasy rumour which excited the 
learned ones at home. And now all the way from 
Jerusalem came priests and Levites, tc ask him 
again, " Who art thou ? " ? 

1 Who were the Levites themselves ? } said Cy- 
ril. 

c The tribe of Levi was chosen from among the 
twelve tribes of Israel, and set apart for the espe- 
cial outward service of God. Of this tribe was 
Aaron, the first high priest, and all the true priests 



Bu the Jordan. 263 

of Israel after that were his descendants, and all 
his descendants were priests; but the rest of the 
tribe were called Levites. They could not do 
priestly offices, but they were the priests' assist- 
ants; they carried the tabernacle, they prepared 
the shew bread, they formed the choir ; doing all 
the less sacred work of the tabernacle and temple 
service. They also were public readers of the law 
and instructors of the people. So just as we send 
ministers and elders to our General Assembly to 
arrange church affairs, there came priests and Le- 
vites to Bethabara to inquire about John and his 
preaching. " Who art thou ? " they said. " And he 
confessed, and denied not ; but confessed, I am not 
the Christ : " not the one whom you expect. And 
they asked him, What then? "Art thou Elias? 
And he saith, I am not." ' 

6 Why, didn't they know his name was John ? 9 
said Cyril. 

e Elijah, you know/ said mamma, i or Elias — for 
the names are one, was a very noted, wonderful 
prophet in the days of the kings of Israel ; and it 
had been promised that the forerunner of Christ 
should be like him. " I will send you Elijah the 
prophet," said Malachi ; and the angel who foretold 
John's birth said that he should go before the Lord 
in the spirit and power of Elias : warning the peo- 
ple and denouncing sin as Elias had done. But the 
Pharisees, interpreting everything after their own 
fancy, supposed that Elijah himself was to come. 
He would appear three days before Messiah, they 



264 $he $ten out of Jacob. 

said 5 proclaiming in a voice that the whole world 
could hear, on the first day peace ; on the second 
h ppiness ; on the third salvation. This was so 
firmly believed, that if goods were found and the 
owner not known, people said, " Put them by till 
Elijah comes ; " — at certain ceremonies a chair 
was always set for Elijah; and during certain 
prayers the door was always left open, that he 
might come in and announce the Messiah. And 
the very same sayings and customs are found 
among strict Jews, even at the present day. To 
meet this false notion of the people, John answered 
No. 

1 Then said the deputation " Art thou that proph- 
et?" God had promised to raise up a prophet 
from the midst of the people, like unto Moses : 
standing between the people and God's anger as 
he had stood, and like him knowing the Lord face 
to face ; for Moses w r as a great type of Christ. 
But the Pharisees seemed not to understand that 
this was but another name for the promised Mes- 
siah. " Art thou that prophet? JJ they said, — and 
again John answered No. In despair the priests 
and Levites asked once more — " Who art thou 
then ? that we may give an answer to them that 
sent us. What say est thou of thyself? " 

* And as usual/ said mamma, i John had nothing 
to say of himself. I am only a voice, he said, 

— a voice to tell the people of One mightier than 
L John was the perfection of a gospel preacher, 

— nobody and nothing but a voice through whicl} 
God spoke ; a voice to tell the people of Jesus. ; 



Bg the lotjdan. 265 

4 Wouldn't be much need of writing out such 
sermons/ said Cyril drily. 

i Mamma, why did he give such puzzling an- 
swers? — why didn't he speak plainer?' said 
Mabel. 

' The simple truth is very puzzling sometimes/ 
said mamma, i but not to those who are seeking it 
simply, and with the whole heart. These priests 
and Levites were fall of their own notions and de- 
sires, rather than of the Lord's sure promise, or 
they would have understood in a moment. For 
John merely quoted from one of the old prophecies 
about the Messiah and his herald, — that " coming 
consolation of Israel," for which old Simeon had 
waited so long : — 

1 " Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your 
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and 
cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that 
her iniquity is pardoned : for she hath received of 
the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice 
of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye 
the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a 
highway for our God." ' 

c And yet they did not understand/ said Gracie. 

' It was what they did not care to understand, — 
these were Pharisees, careful about their many 
prayers, little anxious about their sins. They were 
at a loss what to make of it all. " Why baptizest 
thou them ? " they inquired ; for this was one of 
the signs of a new teacher and leader, a new order 
of things; but if you are not Christ, nor Elia% 



266 



out of laoob* 



nor yet that prophet, what revolution do you expect 
to bring about? And John answered, None. 
My baptism is but an outside form, and reflects no 
honour on me, nor gains any virtue from my hands. 
But even now there is One among you whom ye 
know not ; coming after me yet preferred before 
me ; whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to un- 
loose : seek him.' 

1 Mamma, what sort of a place is Bethabara 
now ? ' said Gracie. 

c A wild enough place, if its site be really where 
I told you. Biding up the Ghor beyond the plain 
of Jericho, you cross the lower plain, and then 
descend about forty feet to " the channel of the 
winter floods : " a heavy thicket of trees and under- 
growth, their lower branches tangled and matted 
with the refuse drift which the floods have left. 
Prom there — or through there — a path goes wind- 
ing down to the water's edge, the view shut in by 
impenetrable forest above and below, and on both 
sides the river. But just at the ford there is a lit- 
tle clearing. Imagine a stream fifteen feet deep, 
rushing along among the trees like a mad thing ; 
imagine a score of wild Arabs swimming and 
riding all around: imagine your bridle seized by 
one of those on horseback, who dashes off into the 
stream, while one of the swimmers keeps close at 
your side, holding you firmly to the saddle against 
the wild rush of the current : imagine all this, and 
you can form some idea of the winding, difficult 
ford of Be^paTa/ 



Kg the loqdan. 267 

' And could John baptize £/£6?r£ ? ? said Mabel. 

'John probably baptized at the fountain near 
the village a little way back. There are only 
ruins there now, and wild vegetation, and the 
abundant water ; but the old highway from Jeru- 
salem to the country beyond Jordan crosses the 
same ford still. 

1 And now at last Jesus began to shew himself 
openly to the people. Coming back from the wil- 
derness, he crossed the river first to where John 
was baptizing, with the usual crowd about him. 
Men from villages near by, and others from north- 
ern towns miles away ; Pharisees, who asked for 
baptism for its own sake, thinking that water and 
a form could wash away their sins ; humbled peni- 
tents, who while calling themselves John's disciples, 
yet remembered that " without shedding of blood 
there is no remission." Bat whether caring for it or 
not, every one of them knew well that by special 
divine command, there were laid upon the altar at 
Jerusalem " two lambs without spot, day by day, 
for a continual burnt offering ; " and that this daily 
sacrifice had been offered for fifteen hundred years, 
foretokening him that should come. Past them 
even now, from time to time, went great flocks of 
sheep and lambs, going down to the ford, and 
thence up to Jerusalem for the temple use ; and 
e^ery cry from these innocent creatures must have 
stirred in many a heart the old mystery of the 
meaning of all this, — ringing out anew the words 
of the prophet : " Hath the Lord delight in the 



268 ^he $teq out of Jacob. 

blood of lambs ?" — " behold Lebanon is not suffi- 
cient to burn, nor the beasts thereof for a burnt 
offering. " 

( It was the next day after the priests and Levites 
had come with their questions, going away an- 
swered but not satisfied; and the usual day's 
work was going on, when of a sudden "John 
seeth Jesus coming unto him." And as if in a 
moment the whole mystery were made clear to his 
own heart, or speaking the joyful faith which now 
saw its rest and abiding place, — in answer to the 
many who had that day come with the query, 
" what shall we do ? " John said : " Behold the 
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
world." Then was fulfilled the words of the proph- 
et : — " Lift up thy voice with strength, — say unto 
the cities of Judah, Behold your God ! " John 
speaks as if he had been weary for another sight 
of that face which he had seen but once, — as if he 
were almost heartsick at being so constantly taken 
for his Master. " This is he of whom I said," he 
cried exultingly, " after me cometh a man which is 
preferred before me : for he was before me " — he 
was from the beginning. And I did not know him 
myself ; but I came baptizing with water — calling 
all men to repentance — that he might be known 
in Israel. Then solemnly John bare witness of 
him, for these were not the same people who had 
been at the lower ford. " I saw the spirit descend- 
ing from heaven like a dove and it abode upon 
him." And I should not have known what this 



Bu the Jordan. 269 

meant, but He who sent me to baptize, the same 
gave me this for a sign : " And I saw, and bare 
record that this is the Son of God." This is he of 
whom it was written : " He is led as a lamb to the 
slaughter," — this is he of whom it was promised : 
"He shall bear their iniquities." "Look unto 
him and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," — 
" Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
sin of the world." 

' This thought, not new indeed, but now made 
plain, seemed to fill John's heart; he wanted to 
speak of nothing else, he could not rest till all eyes 
looked that way. The day after this, standing 
with two of his disciples, he saw Jesus walking 
by ; and looking upon him his joy again broke 
forth, and he said : " Behold the Lamb of God ! " 
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they 
followed Jesus. " A word fitly spoken, how good 
isit!"> — 

'Who were the two disciples, mamma?' said 
Sue. 

1 One of them was Andrew, the other I suppose 
was John the apostle and evangelist. The story is 
told in the Gospel which he wrote, and John never 
if he could help it mentioned his own name. It 
was the beloved disciple I think, who now for the 
first time saw and loved his Master ; drawn to him 
by the ineffable beauty which shone through the 
veil of his humiliation. Now first John saw that 
of which he afterwards wrote : "The Word was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld 



270 f^ho ftaq out of Jacob* 

his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father,) full of grace and truth." Now began to 
be fulfilled these words : " As many as received 
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of 
God, even to them that believe on his name." Be- 
hold the Lamb of God ! said John the Baptist, — 
and the two disciples heard him speak, and they 
followed Jesus. 

' As soon as any one ever begins to do that,' said 
mamma, ( Jesus knows it. He knew it then, at 
once ; and when they had followed a little way he 
turned and looked at the two, and said: "What 
seek ye ? " Do you follow me for curiosity, or for 
variety, or for love, or for favours ? And they an- 
swered him : (i Rabbi (the Jewish word for master), 
where dwellest thou ? " ' 

6 That wasn't answering very exactly,' said Ma- 
bel. 

' Yes, it was,' said mamma, — 'it was a perfect 
answer : We seek thee, — that is the one point 
on which a believer need make sure. He may be 
eager to learn the wonders of grace, he may be 
wearily seeking a change from the world's hard 
service ; he must come begging for favours : but if 
he is truly seeking Jesus he need not trouble him- 
self with any smaller questions ; the Lord will 
surely say to him, " Come and see." So they came 
and saw where he dwelt. Not in any palace or 
castle or great house, but in some little hut in the 
village, or a cave in the distant hillside, or in a 
summer booth made of branches and reeds down 



By the loqdan. 271 

by the river. Such slight sheds are common 
enough in the Ghor, where the fierce heat of the 
sun demands a shelter, hut where people rarely 
stay long enough to put up a more substantial 
house. " Come and see/' says Jesus now to every 
one of those who seek him ; for a my kingdom is 
not of this world." Think well, count the cost, — 
I promise you only a shadow from the heat, a 
covert from the storm.' 

6 " And they came and saw where he dwelt, and 
abode there," ' said Grace joyfully. 

* Yes, counting all things else but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of him. It was the 
tenth hour. The Jews at that time divided the 
day between sunrise and sunset into twelve parts, 
calling each one an hour : of course these hours 
were of very different length at different times of 
the year. The sixth hour would be always at mid- 
day, but the others would vary according to the 
length of the day. If this was early in the spring, 
as I think, the tenth hour would have been be- 
tween four and five o'clock : and that day — the 
rest of that day — the first two disciples abode 
with Jesus.' 

i Ah mamma ! those were good times ! ' said 
Gracie sighing. 

1 But hear what Jesus says to us in these times/ 
baid mamma : { " Behold, I stand at the door and 
knock : if any man hear my voice, and open the 
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, 
and he with me." Only open the door in every 



272 ^he $ta*| out of Jacob. 

prayer, as they once did for Elijah; only in every- 
thing you do leave a place for Jesus : and " he that 
shall come will come, and will not tarry." And 
all doubtful things and questions u put by till he 




efoptef win 

FROM JORDAN TO CANA. 

fyTfo then the two disciples stayed with Jesus 
all the time, after that, didn't they?' 
said Sue. 

'For a while/ answered mamma. 'But 
no one can stay with Jesus all the time in this 
world, except in heart ; it is only in heaven that 
we shall be" ever with the Lord." Andrew and 
John were poor men, and had their living to gain ; 
and now they were disciples, and had work to do 
for their Master. They might not spend all their 
time in studying his words, but with the joy of the 
Lord for their strength, and the hope of salvation 
for a helmet, they must go forth and bear the glad 
tidings to other hearts. "Let him that heareth 
say Come." " We do not well," said the starving 
lepers of Samaria when they had found food and' 
treasure : " this is a day of good tidings, and we 
hold our peace." 

* Even that night the work began. Before many 
hours had passed, as it seems from the story, An- 
drew's heart grew too full for quiet listening ; and 
as if he could not wait to hear another word, " he 
18 






274 $he $ta*[ out of Jacob. 

first findeth his own brother Simon." Springing 
away from the little hut, he sought among the 
crowd that had come down to John's preaching for 
his brother, and then told him all in one word: 
" We have found the Messias." 9 

'And did Simon know what he meant ?' said 
Mabel. 

i Every Jew knew that name/ said mamma, — 
' the Messiah — the Christ, as the Greek word is ; 
the Anointed One. Every Jew knew that Messiah 
would come ; but apparently Simon did not at 
once believe his brother's report, for it is said that 
Andrew " brought him to Jesus," — a little against 
his will perhaps, and doubting, as was Simon's 
way. And the Lord, reading his thoughts, gave 
him at once a token to steady his faith ; a proof of 
the divine power into whose presence Simon had 
come : telling him not only his name and his 
father's name, but also his character and future 
work. " Thou art Simon " — "a hearer " now ; but 
" thou shalt be called Cephas " — "a stone." 
Strong, sturdy, rough, by nature, in my hands 
thou shalt become a stone for the builder's use. 
For,' added mamma, t it is with the Lord's Church 
now, as it was with the temple of old : a great 
many different materials are chosen and prepared 
and inwrought. There are "onyx stones, and 
stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers 
colours, and all manner of precious stones, and 
marble stones in abundance." 

i So the night passed ; and " the day following, 



3ftjom Jordan to $ana. 275 

Jesus would go forth into Galilee : " crossing the 
ford from the east bank of the river, and journey- 
ing on up to the Lake of Tiberias. " And he find- 
eth Philip." I think it is likely/ said mamma, 
'that Andrew and Simon had told the Lord about 
Philip, who was their fellow- townsman of Bethsaida 
— a little town on the Lake shore : told of him as 
their friend, and perhaps as one who was " waiting 
for the consolation of Israel." And the Lord, as 
he often does, was pleased to act upon information 
of which yet he had no need, and to receive the re- 
quest of one friend for another. He went to find 
Philip, " and saith unto him, Follow me." Philip 
seems to have obeyed instantly, — he was one of 
those who came at the Lord's first call ; and join- 
ing himself to the little company, the four went 
slowly on among the sweet Galilee hills, with won- 
drous talk by the way, until Philip's heart grew 
hot within him ; and in the fulness of his new faith 
and joy he too hastened away to spread the glad 
tidings. "Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith 
unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in 
the law, and the prophets did write " — the Shiloh, 
to whom shall be the gathering of the people ; the 
Governor that shall rule Israel ; the Prince of 
peace. He is not a foreigner, like these our pres- 
ent rulers ; but according to the word that Moses 
wrote, he is "from the midst of us, and of our 
brethren," — " Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Jo- 
seph."' 

'And Nathanael did not believe, either/ said 
Gracie. 






270 ^he flfoaij out of £aoob. 

1 Nathanael, I suppose, thought Philip enthusias- 
tic : " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? n 
he said : for Nazareth was a town of very poor re- 
pute among the Jews, and Nathanael — unwilling 
to check his friend's ardour too roughly, gently re- 
minded him what a very unlikely thing he was 
saying. The mere name of Nazareth in that con- 
nection must prove him mistaken/ 

' What was the matter with Nazareth, that they 
did not like it ? — such a beautiful place/ said Ma- 
bel. 

'I do not know certainly/ mamma answered. 
'The people of Judaea held all those of Galilee in 
some contempt, as being less cultivated and speak- 
ing a ruder dialect than themselves ; but that could 
not have been the thought in Nathanael's mind, 
for he himself was a Galilean. I think — indeed 
from other parts of the story I am sure — that they 
were a hard, unbelieving, unrighteous set; and 
thus it might well be that Nathanael, a strict-living 
and pure-minded Jew, disliked even the very 
name of the place.' 

'Mamma/ said Gracie, 'I notice that the first 
thing all these disciples say, is, "We have 
found." > 

€ And therefore, speaking from the joy of their 
own hearts, they could answer fearlessly as Philip 
did, "Come and see:" they spoke that they did 
know. There is always great power in "I have 
found." 

6 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and at 



3ft|om Jordan to (ftena. 27? 

once told his character, as he had done Peter's. 
" Behold an Israelite indeed ! " he said, — for well 
the Lord knew that " all are not Israel which are 
of Israel." But in Nathanael was no guile, no 
pretence; and the name of Jew, and all the out- 
ward forms of Jewish life and obedience, in him 
were but the signs of true heart service. " Blessed 
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not in- 
iquity ! " ' 

' But I don't like it in him that he just accepted 
such a good character, without a question/ said 
Mabel. 

1 You would have had him shew guile, to prove 
himself guileless/ said mamma. ' My dear, a man 
ought to know whether he is serving God with all 
his heart. But Nathanael was puzzled how other 
people should know it, — or at least this stranger, 
who had never seen him before. " Whence know- 
est thou me ? " he said. It is true, my heart is 
fixed — but how do you know it ? And Jesus an- 
swered, I know all about you. When you were 
far from here, out of sight, "Before that Philip 
called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I 
saw thee." 

6 Nathanael, I presume, was also a traveller that 
day ; having come down to the Lake on some spe- 
cial errand, from his home among the hills. And 
when noontide came, he stayed his business for a 
while, and sat down to rest and dine, not in the hot 
town, but under the cool shade of a fig-tree on the 
hillside. There are few things so pleasant as the 



278 ^be $tai| out of Sacob. 

shade of a fig-tree/ said mamma, — ( the branches 
are so very spreading, and the leaves very thick *, 
and the breeze plays in and out among them till 
they are like a thousand little green fans. In that 
hot climate it is far better than a tent. And there, 
hidden in the shady solitude, Xathanael had said 
his midday prayer as was the custom with all de- 
vout Jews ; praying with his face toward Jerusa- 
lem, earnestly entreating that Messiah would come. 
Noontide was long passed now, and Nathanael was 
stirring about his business in the town, when 
Philip called him and brought him away to Jesus. 
"What then did those words mean ? — " When thou 
wast under the fig-tree I saw thee." At once, 
with a swift flash of recollection, Nathanael knew 
they could have but one meaning ; there was but 
One in all the universe who could speak them 
so ; even He of whom Hagar said, u Thou God 
seest me," — of whom David wrote : " God, 
thou hast searched me and known me : thou know- 
est my downsitting and mine uprising : thou un- 
derstandest my thought afar off." In a moment 
the whole truth was made clear to ISTatkanael ; and 
he believed, and instantly proffered his allegiance ; 
"Rabbi, thou art the Son of God: thou art the 
King of Israel." Thou art he to whom God said, 
Thou art my Son ; he whom the Lord hath anoint- 
ed to be •• captain over his inheritance," and who 
shall " set up an ensign for the nations." 

* " Believestthou because I said this ? " said Jesus 
onto him: "thou shalt see greater things than 



Hfqom Jordan to (ftena. 279 

fchese." For so it will always be ; and people will 
see more and more of the glory and love of Jesus, 
according as they believe. And then the Lord 
went on partly to explain his promise. You call 
me the King of Israel on earth, but hereafter you 
shall know that I am the only way of approach to 
heaven. Jacob in his dream saw a ladder set up 
between heaven and earth, and the angels of God 
ascending and descending upon it, — you shall see 
the glories of which that was but a sign. You 
shall see heaven opened to men 5 and every mes- 
sage of mercy, every breath of prayer, ascending 
and descending by me, the Son of man. Some 
people suppose that Nathanael had been musing on 
the old vision of Jacob that day, and so the Lord 
just answered his thoughts and longings by telling 
him what it meant. 

'I think/ thus mamma went on, 'from the 
course of the story, that Jesus and his new disci- 
ples then left the Lake and journeyed on to a little 
village some miles away, where Nathanael lived. 
It is a wonderfully beautiful road, even now in 
these days of Galilee's desolation ; first skirting 
the Lake for a while, through the rich plain of Gen- 
nesaret. This plain is " the ambition of nature," 
says an old Jewish writer ; and there is a marvel- 
lous growth — and variety of growth — there still. 
It is a sort of level crescent among the hills ; bor- 
dered on one side by the blue waters of the lake, 
with their broad fringe of rosy oleanders and trop- 
ical plants; while on the other rises the hillside. 



280 She $tati out of Jacob, 



gilded and fragrant with wild mustard, decked 
with all manner of bloom. Then the road turns 
westward, leaving the Lake, and climbing slowly 
up the great gorge of Wady Hamam, between 
perpendicular cliffs a thousand feet high, till it 
comes out upon the broad plain of El Buttauf. 5 

c This lies higher up than Esdraelon ? ? said 
Gracie. 

1 Much higher. It is the old plain of Zebulon, 
stretching east and west along the back of the 
Nazareth hills. In April the plain is carpeted 
with young grain, and the hill-slopes covered with 
grass : and both are enamelled with flowers. 
White asters, and crimson ; cyclamen, anemones, 
convolvulus of different colours : the air full of fra- 
grance, and the hillside clumps of trees and bushes 
full of birds in full song. Across this plain, among 
its water courses, its little hamlets walled with 
gigantic hedges of prickly pear, the road winds 
on ; until at the further edge of the plain, on the 
side of a little glen which slopes steeply down to 
the level ground, you come to a ruined village. It 
was never a very large place, probably, but with a 
most exquisite situation ; overlooking the rich plain 
and its bordering hills ; and was once flourishing 
and full of people. Now, it is all desolate, — in 
Kana-el-Jelil, as the Arabs call it, there is not one 
inhabitant nor one habitable house ; and the whole 
neighbourhood is so wild that the men of Nazareth 
use it for a hunting ground, — coming there to 
hoot bears, leopards, and gazelles. A little lonely 



^jjom Jordan to (ftena, 281 

ruin the village is now; its very name called in 
question by some ; and yet eighteen centuries ago 
it was chosen to honour above all the great cities 
of the world, for there Jesus wrought the first of 
all his miracles/ 

'What do you mean by its name being ques- 
tioned, mamma ? ? said Cyril. 

' Another little town — Kefr Kenna — claims 
the honour for itself. But there is little trace 
of the old name in that : while Kana-el-Jelil is 
the simple Arabic translation of Cana of Galilee. 
" And the third day there was a marriage there," 
— either the third day from the Lord's first going 
forth into Galilee, or the third from that on which 
Philip brought Nathanael to him. Cana was Na- 
thanael's home ; and Jesus and his other disciples 
had journeyed with him along the wild road of El 
Buttauf to the little village among the hills. Some 
have fancied that Nathanael himself was the bride- 
groom on this occasion ; and if so, or indeed if he 
were merely a near friend of the parties, he had 
probably gone down to one of the larger Lake 
towns to buy things for the wedding, when his 
friend Philip drew him away to see Jesus. How- 
ever that may be, " both Jesus was called, and his 
disciples, to the marriage.'* The mother of Jesus 
was already there. It is the custom at these East- 
ern marriages for all the women friends of the 
bride to assemble at her house some days before 
the wedding-day, and there remain with her until 
she is married. They come dressed in their gayest 








282 JJtoe $Uu{ out of Jacob, 

robes, and spend the time in music and feasting, 
in going to the bath, in dressing and talking. 
Then on the day of the marriage the bridegroom 
comes with a party of his own special friends, and 
takes the bride back in procession to his house, 
where the marriage feast is spread. 

6 Among the women who were with the bride, 
and had now accompanied her to her new home, 
was the mother of Jesus. I never read these words,' 
said mamma, c without thinking of a custom which 
is universal in Palestine to this day. It is thought 
a great honour there, as well as a great blessing, 
to have a son ; and the mother at once drops her 
own name, and takes that of her first born. She 
may have been called Miraim before, but now she 
is Um Daoud — the mother of David : or perhaps 
she was Leah — and is now Um Yuseph. I al- 
ways think of that, when I read these words : " the 
mother of Jesus." ' 

6 Then if you lived in Palestine, mamma, 
would you be Um Cyril ? ? asked Sue. 

6 1 should be Um Cyril/ said mamma smiling ; 
' and all you girls would have to submit to the fate 
of women in the East, which is to be thought of 
very small account. Mary must have been an in- 
timate friend of the family, or perhaps even a rela- 
tion, for she seems to have assumed part of the 
care and responsibility of the feast. And it fell 
out, that either through mistake, or because unex- 
pected guests had come, the supply of wine fell 
short. Presently there was a call for more, — and 



Ifyom Jordan to (?ana* 283 

it is probable enough tbat none could be had near- 
er than the Lake cities, some twenty miles away. 

I In this emergency, Mary — who you know had 
laid up and pondered many things in her heart — 
Mary bethought her of the divine power which 
had been declared to be in her Son : there was an 
easy way out of the difficulty, — she had but to 
state her case. " The mother of Jesus saith unto 
him, They have no wine." * 

i And Jesus was displeased/ said Mabel. '■ Why 
was that, mamma ? ' 

I I do not know that we can say displeased? said 
mamma, 'though he certainly rebuked her pre- 
sumption. As to his form of address, that was 
nothing in itself : " woman," was a common man 
ner of speech ; yet this was perhaps the first time 
the Lord had used it to her. But it was needful 
she should understand that the time of his subjec- 
tion to her was past ; he had gone forth now into 
the world, to do the work which he came from 
heaven to do: with human ties and human claims 
he had thenceforth no concern. Still less might 
ehe attempt to order or dispose that work, or to 
hasten by even a moment God's set time. " What 
have I to do with thee ? " he answered in grave 
reproof. You want me to work a miracle, — but 
u mine hour is not yet come." When I put forth 
my power, it will be at the bidding of no human 
voice. Mary ventured no more. Shrinking back 
from his rebuke, yet with her faith in his power — 
even in his affection for her — untouched, she s&icl 






284 if he $taq out of Jacob, 

quietly to the servants : " Whatsoever he saith 
unto you, do it:" — and there left it all.' 

' Mamma, how pretty that is ! ' Grace said. 
' And just like Mary.' 

i It is beautiful/ said mamma : i it is the simple 
faith of a child of God, who acknowledging his 
mistakes, and hearing humbly both delay and dis- 
appointment, yet knows that not one of his re- 
quests " is forgotten before God." In some way, 
in the Lord's good time, the blessed answer to the 
request will come. He expects it, he makes ready 
for it, — saying to heart and hand, Whatsoever he 
saith unto you, do it, — then quietly waits, And 
such faith is never put to shame. 

'The room where the feast was spread, was 
doubtless much like what you can find at the pres- 
ent day in Palestine : such as I have myself seen 
in a mountain village not many miles from Kana-el- 
Jelil. A long, high room on the second story, 
with many windows of lattice-work instead of 
glass ; one end furnished with carpets and cush- 
ions, and the walls rudely frescoed. In one corner 
of the room at the uncarpeted end, was a shallow 
stone basin let into the floor, and by it stood three 
tall water jars. As each guest came in, he paused 
for a moment by the basin, while a servant drew 
water from the jars and poured upon his hands ; 
the water instantly disappearing through a hole in 
the bottom of the basin. But in this room at 
Cana, as it was a feast and the guests were many,. 
" there were set six water pots of stone, after the 



tjom ^ojjdan to (ftena. 



285 



manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing 
two or three firkins apiece." We cannot tell ex- 
actly the size of these jars, for it is not quite cer- 
tain whether the Greek word here is used for a 
Greek measure, or for the old Hebrew bath ; but 
they must have held from ten to sixteen gallons 
each. The feast was now in full progress j and 
the jars, having furnished water for the washing 
of so many hands, stood empty in the corner. 
Then said Jesus to the servants, " Fill the water 
pots with water. And they filled them up to the 
brim." 




Wine Jars. 



' Jesus, from his place at the table, noted them 
as they wonderingly obeyed his orders ; going back 
and forth, up and down, between the water jars 



286 $he $tm{ out of Jacob, 

and the distant fountain ; until at last the bright 
drops were brimming over, and the servants drew 
near him for further orders. And he saith unto 
them, " Draw out now, and bare unto the governor 
of the feast." And again the servants, follow- 
ing Mary's directions, and yet more yielding to 
the authority with which this new command 
was given, obeyed. "And they bare it." Set- 
ting down the large vessels in which they had 
brought water from the fountain, they took up 
their small beakers again, and drew out, and bare 
to the governor of the feast. 

'The fact that there was "a governor" that 
day, proves that it was a large assembly; for on 
smaller occasions the master of the house himself 
presided. But when the guests were many, and 
of many sorts, some friend^ was chosen to act as 
master of ceremonies ; to arrange the guests, and 
keep order, and see that all went well. To him 
now came the wondering servants, with their pitch- 
ers filled from the water jars ; not knowing even 
yet, perhaps, the miracle which had been wrought, 
— laughing privately, and nudging each other, 
or else afraid of a rebuke. And when they had 
filled his cup, the ruler of the feast tried first, as in 
duty bound, what he was to offer to the guests. 
" He tasted the water which was made wine," not 
knowing whence it was ; " but the servants which 
drew the water knew." And so excellent was the 
wine, that the ruler of the feast could not keep si- 
lence about it. He even called the bridegroom, 



Jfyom loqdan to (j?ana, 287 

telling him what a strange mistake he had made. 
"Every man/' said he, " at the beginning doth set 
forth good wine : " the cup before dinner, when a 
man's taste is pure, must needs be choice: and 
" when they have well drunk, then that which is 
worse " will do : " but thou hast kept the good 
wine until now/' 9 

'Well did the ruler find it out?' said Cyril. 
* And what did he say ? ; 

'We are told nothing of all that/ answered 
mamma. * The servants knew, and doubtless Mary 
also, at once ; and they could hardly have kept so 
strange a thing long secret. But all we are told 
is that this was the beginning of the miracles 
which the Lord wrought while he was on earth; 
and that little Cana of Galilee was the first place 
where Jesus thus " manifested forth his glory," his 
divine power. And then, "his disciples believed 
on him," — those who had faith already, gained 
more; but of all the others there is not a word 
said.' 

6 Mamma/ said Sue, * what is a miracle ? 9 

' It is something which interrupts the course of 
natural events and causes ; not produced by human 
power, but by the direct power of God. This was 
the beginning of those wondrous acts by which 
Jesus proved that he was indeed the Son of God. 
u And we beheld his glory," wrote one of his first 
two disciples ; " the glory as of the only begotten 
of the Father." 

* After this, followed by his mother, and his 



288 1$h* $tetj out of Jacob. 

brethren, and his disciples, some for love and some 
for curiosity, Jesus went down to Capernaum, a 
city on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. 
" And he continued there not many days." f 




JERUSALEM. 

city of Jerusalem, to which our scene 

now changes/ said mamma, c stands at 
almost the highest point of the long back- 
bone ridge of Palestine. From the plain 
of Esdraelon, which lies you remember just south 
of the Nazareth hills, the ground rises up into that 
platform of high table-land — all broken into sepa- 
rate heights and valleys — which forms the wester 
wall of the Ghor, the eastern wall of the Shefelah 
Up and up, from the mountains of Ephraim to 
those of Judah, until at Hebron it reaches its 
greatest elevation of 3,029 feet above the level of 
the sea. Jerusalem, some twenty miles north of 
Hebron, is just a little lower, or 2,610 feet above 
the sea : perched upon a hill and among hills — 
" beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole 
earth." No other great city of the world was ever 
so placed ; and although two or three of the neigh- 
bouring hilltops rise slightly above its own, yet as 
you come near Jerusalem its walls and towers 
stand out against the sky, having no background 
that is of earth. And never had *, city such natu- 
19 



290 $he $taq out of Jacob. 

ral bulwarks. On every side the ravines are deep, 
and except on the north even precipitous, forming 
a complete trench around the walls ; and beyond 
mounts up the circle of hills without a break, un- 
less to the south-west, at the opening of the plain 
of Kephaim. Whoever would invade Jerusalem, 
must not only scale these hills, but also cross the 
valley, exposed to the fire and missiles from the 
town. "As the mountains are round about Jeru- 
salem, so the Lord is round about his people from 
henceforth even for ever." 

' The hill on which the city itself stands, is in 
fact five hills, welded together ; the whole breadth 
between the ravines being about half a mile ; and 
the sides of the ravines were always too steep for 
the city to spread down into them: it merely 
crowns the height. Through the middle of this 
hilltop platform runs a shallow ravine, dividing 
the city into two ridges : Mt. Moriah on the east, 
where once the temple stood, and on the west Mt. 
Zion, the old " city of David." ' 

1 1 thought Bethlehem was the city of David/ 
said Cyril. 

1 So it was, because David was born there. But 
this was " Ariel, the city where David dwelt," — 
the site of his palace was here. North of Zion is 
the smaller hill Akra, and still north of that, Beze- 
tha; while Ophel is but a continuation of Mt. 
Moriah on the south. Zion was the highest of all. 
On these five stood Jerusalem, "bu-lded as a city 
that is compact together ; " and placed as it was in 



Jerusalem. 291 

the highway between all the great nations of old 
time, it is no wonder that it was called by many 
the centre of the world. " The world is like to an 
eye," wrote one of the Jewish rabbins : te the white 
of the eye is the ocean surrounding the world ; the 
black is the world itself ; the pupil is Jerusalem ; 
and the image in the pupil, the Temple." 

1 Besides its natural defences, the city was 
strengthened on all sides with walls. Where the 
ravine was deep enough to be quite impassable to 
an enemy, a single wall was thought sufficient ; but 
in other places there were two or even three ; and 
in the walls were twelve gates.' 

' Mamma, just stop one minute/ said Gracie . 
( things come too fast. I've been trying to com- 
pare it, as you went along, with the account of 
" Jerusalem which is above," — and I can't make 
out the mountain defences. There's nothing said 
about them in the Revelation.' 

Then our mother said with a smile : ' u We have 
a strong city ; salvation will God appoint for walls 
and bulwarks." Can anything break through 
that? 

' The marriage at Kana-el-Jelil must have taken 
place in March, or early in April ; for a little while 
after that " the feast of the passover was at hand, 
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." At this time 
of year the city is in its beauty. Later in the sea- 
son, the summer heats dry up the brooks and with- 
er the flowers ; but in spring, even within the city^ 
every little clear space is like a wee flower-decked 



292 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

meadow, and the very walls themselves are rich 
with leaves and bright blossoms. And the hyssop 
has its place there still, as in the days of King Solo- 
mon; who "spake of trees, from the cedar tree 
that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that 
springeth out of the wall." ' 

6 Mamma/ Gracie said, e I never understood that 
promise before: "Neither shall the sun light on 
them, nor any heat." Nothing shall ever wither 
or fade, up there.' 

I thought a quiver swept over mamma's face, 
but she went on steadily. 

i In this spring-time of beauty our Lord Jesus 
went up to Jerusalem, — he whose hand had made 
it all, from the glowing oleanders along the river 
banks, to the small hyssop upon the city wall ; but 
there was little else that looked fair to his sinless 
eyes. For the people he had made had lost the 
image of God, and the nation he had chosen were 
" gone away backward " from his service. It was 
the feast of the passover, — the special set time for 
remembering the Lord's mercies and the wonders 
he had wrought for the deliverance of his people, — 
and this was the state of things in Jerusalem. 
Going into the temple, the house "built in the 
name of the Lord," Jesus found there " them that 
sold oxen and sheep and doves." One whole end 
of the court of the Gentiles was turned into a com- 
mon market, where were crowded vast flocks of 
sheep and lambs and kids ; and their constant 
bleatings, and the cries and shouts of the drovers, 



Jerusalem. 



293 



mingled with the solemn psalms of praise from the 
inner parts of the temple. In the next court, the 
court of the women, sat the money-changers.' 

' But how happened all this ? 9 cried Cyril. 

1 The priests allowed it, I suppose, by reason of 
some profit it brought to them ; and the people 
liked it because it saved them the trouble of seek- 
ing their own offerings, and bringing them to the 
temple. By a very old appointment, every Jew 
paid into the temple treasury a yearly tax of half a 
shekel, — about thirty cents of our money, — and 
this must always be paid in Jewish coin, of pre- 
cisely that value. It was the yearly " offering to 
the Lord," and was generally made at the time of 




Half-Shekel. 



the passover. Now every one had not, perhaps, 
the right change ; and the foreign Jews who came 
to the feast, and brought this tax for their country- 
men at home as well as themselves, would have 
only foreign coin. And there in the court of the 
women were set thirteen great chests, — this one 
for the tax, and this for freewill offerings, and so 



294 t$H $Un\ out of £acob. 

on ; and by each chest sat a money-changer with 
his table.' 

i Well, wasn't it really a convenience ? 9 said 
Mabel. 

1 The Jews thought it so/ said mamma, — ' and 
they are not the only ones who have brought traffic 
into God's house, with great satisfaction. So the 
court of the Gentiles was used for a sheep market, 
and the court of the women became the city ex- 
change; and the two things by which God had 
ordered the Jews to remember that they were his 
people — the daily sacrifice and the yearly tax — 
they turned into means of dishonouring him, and 
defiling that holy and beautiful house which he 
had chosen to put his name there. The drovers 
made their profit, and the money-changers took 
their premiums, — other wares were soon brought 
to a place where buyers were so many ; and the 
great solemn feasts which God had appointed, be- 
came like common fairs, where people sold and 
bought and got gain. 

1 This Jesus found. And catching up from the 
floor some of the halters and leading strings which 
the cattle merchants had let fall, "he made a 
scourge of small cords, and drove them all out of 
the temple, and the sheep and the oxen." Then 
passing on into the next court, " he poured out the 
changers' money, and overthrew the tables." And 
he said to them that sold doves, "Take these 
things hence ; make not my Father's house a 
house of merchandise." ' 



Iei}u$alsm. 295 

1 It; was strange they should mind him/ said 
Cyril. * People would dispute such an order now-^ 
a-days. fast enough.' 

' Eemember in the first place that their own con- 
sciences had not a word to say in defence. For 
every one of these traders must have been a Jew, 
— the lamb or the half shekel received through 
Gentile hands would have been held unclean, and 
not fit for either sacrifice or offering : and they 
knew they deserved to be driven out. But then 
as no one had ever attempted it before, they doubt- 
less thought too that Jesus was a prophet, armed 
with special orders from on high. More than all, 
they felt — not knowing — the force of that Divine 
Power which " looketh on the earth and it trem- 
bleth : which toucheth the hills and they smoke." 
" Who can stand in thy sight, when once thou art 
angry ? " The traders fled from the temple ; and 
no man dared interfere in their behalf. Then the 
disciples of Jesus, standing by, saw what it was to 
be — like Elijah — " very jealous for the Lord God 
of Israel," for the honour of his name. They re- 
membered that it was written, " The zeal of thine 
house hath eaten me up : " or as it is in another 
place, " My zeal hath consumed me, because mine 
enemies have forgotten thy words : " breaking forth 
and burning in a hot flame of indignation. 

'The priests and Levites, on their part, and 
what other Jews were in the temple, looked on at 
first in silent wonder, — then came up to demand 
an explanation. They wore threatening faces, and 



296 ^he $tat[ out of laoob, 

deep anger was in their hearts, as they gathered 
round the daring stranger who had broken up 
their market and scattered their gains. "What 
sign she west thou unto us ? " they asked, " seeing 
that thou doest these things ? " Great prophets 
who presume to lay down the law to the people, 
always give a token that they are sent from God, 
— what are thy credentials ? Then answered 
Jesus and said unto them : " Destroy this temple, 
and in three days I will raise it up." ' 

1 Mamma/ said Mabel, 6 it seems to me that 
told them nothing, — how could they under- 
stand ? ' 

'It told them all/ answered mamma. 'The 
temple, you know, was called the house of God; 
his presence was said to dwell there. " Will God 
indeed dwell on earth ? " said King Solomon at 
the dedication of the first temple : " behold, the 
heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain 
thee; how much less this house which I have 
builded." But now the Eternal Word " was made 
flesh and dwelt among us ; " and within the veil 
of that human form, "dwelt all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily. 5 * This was the first thing told 
by the Lord's answer : I am the true Temple, of 
which this other was but a sign/ 

'And in heaven there will be no temple, be- 
cause there we shall see face to face/ observed 
Gracie. 

6 Then for proof/ said mamma, i the words con- 
tained a special assumption of divine power* 



Jerusalem. 297 

" Am I a God, to kill and to make alive ? " said 
one of the kings of Israel when the leper came to 
him for healing : for well did every Jew know that 
to raise one from the dead was God's work alone. 
But " J will raise it up," said Jesus. And then, 
while declaring the awful Presence in which they 
stood ; while proclaiming his boundless power ; 
with it all he told of his boundless love as well — 
of the crowning finish of his work. You seek my 
life, he said, — but know that when I choose to 
give this temple of God into your hands, in three 
days after you have destroyed it I will raise it up. 
Not earth nor hell can hinder the work I came to 
do, — you people " imagine a vain thing." I will 
not only die, but live, for the souls of men. This 
would be the seal of the promised redemption ; 
" for if Christ be not risen, our faith is vain ; we 
are yet in our sins." ' 

'But the Jews didn't know what he meant/ 
said Mabel. 

6 No,' answered mamma, l because " by faith we 
know " — and they would not believe. They set 
themselves against his words. "Forty and six 
years," they said, "was this temple in building," 
— forty and six had passed since King Herod and 
the priests had begun their scarce finished work of 
rebuilding and repairs, — " wilt thou rear it up in 
^hree days ? 

i " But he spake of the temple of his body." 
And even his disciples did not then fully under- 
stand. But long after, when the sign had come to 



298 (£he $ta*t out of Jaoofc 

pass aud the seal had been set, " when he was 
risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that 
he had said this unto them ; " and then they " be- 
lieved the Scripture, and the word that Jesus had 
said."' 

6 What Scripture, mamma ? ' Gracie asked. 

1 0, so many, so many ! J said mamma, her eyes 
fhishiug with joy. ■ Listen : " He will swallow up 
death in victory," — "0 grave, I will be thy de- 
struction : " " Thy dead men shall live : together 
with my dead body shall they arise." — u For if 
we believe that Jesus died and rose again" ' she 
added softly, ' " them also that sleep in Jesus will 
God bring with him."' 

i And so " life and immortality were brought to 
light by the gospel," ' said Gracie, — ' and I never 
understood how, before ! Mamma, that did indeed 
tell all.' 

1 So came on the passover. And on the feast 
day (the whole time of the feast was eight days, 
but this was the special feast day, which began on 
the night when the passover lamb was slain) Jesus 
wrought miracles before the people; and many, 
seeing them, "believed in his name," They be- 
lieved that he was sent from God, and perhaps 
even accepted him as the Messiah ; but it seems 
to have been for the most part only that sort of 
acceptance which was willing to have him for king 
over the nation, and against the Romans, — not 
over their own hearts, and against sin. " And Jesus 
did not commit himself to them," — did not re- 



Jerusalem. 299 

ceive their proffered allegiance ; " because he knew 
all men." He had come to save his people from 
death — not to give them a splendid earthly ca- 
reer; and now paid no heed to these outward pro- 
fessions, reading the secret desires which prompted 
them. For " the Lord searcheth all hearts, and un- 
derstandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts ; " 
and the Lord alone. 

1 Among all those who were attracted by the 
splendour of his miracles on this occasion, but one 
is spoken of by name : "a man of the Pharisees, 
named Nicodenms." He was a man in high 
authority too — "a ruler of the Jews : " one of 
that Supreme Court of seventy-one members, the 
Sanhedrim, which was appointed to try idolaters, 
and false prophets and teachers, and erring priests. 
And hearing of the wonderful miracles performed 
on this feast day, and of the teachings of him who 
wrought them, I suppose the Sanhedrim thought 
it was time to look into the matter. Was this a 
false, or a true prophet ? — they were in doubt 
what to say. So one of their number, either to 
satisfy himself or sent by the rest, came to Jesus 
by night to talk with him. ? 

'He was afraid to go by day/ said Cyril con- 
temptuously. 

' He did not want to commit himself/ said mam- 
ma. 'His own mind was not made up, and it 
would be a terrible thing for a strict Pharisee, a 
member of their High Court, to be seen going to 
visit a false prophet. Therefore he came by night ; 



800 <5he $tat| out of Jacob. 

and with smooth words professed more faith than I 
think he felt. " Rabbi," he said, " we know that 
thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can 
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be 
with him." ' 

'He didn't know that one name of Jesus was 
" God with us" ' said Gracie. 

( I do not quite know what he knew/ said mam- 
ma. 'I may do Nicodemus great injustice, but 
those first words of his never sound to me honest. 
They seem more like a snare than a compliment. 
And you see the Lord passed them by as mere 
words, and sent a searching arrow of truth down to 
the very depths of the Pharisee's heart. " Verily, 
verily," — with the strongest, most doubly sealed 
assurance, — "I say unto thee, Except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God : " 
— except you become as a little child, utterly 
humble and weak and ignorant — a new creature, 
it is in vain for you to inquire about me. You 
will examine with " eyes which see not," and " a 
heart which cannot perceive." 

'The clear, keen reply startled Nicodemus out 
of all his prepared speeches, " How can a man be 
born when he is old ? " he asked quickly and with 
a touch of scorn. Men are children but once in 
their lives. And I think he really did not under- 
stand, for the Lord's reply is gracious in its expla- 
nation. Again with that solemn doubling of the 
assertion, Jesus answered : " Except a man be born 
of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the 



Jerusalem. 301 

kingdom of God." There must be a new life not of 
the body but of the soul, " by the washing of re- 
generation, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
Marvel not at this, — you cannot reason it out, 
" Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the 
wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowl- 
edge ? how thy garments are warm, when he 
quieteth the earth by his south wind ? " So sover- 
eign, so silent, so unseen, is the action of the Spirit 
of God in men's hearts. 

' And Nicodemus, with all his old learning pow- 
erless and broken, answered : " How can these 
things be ? " 

6 Are you a teacher — "a master in Israel ? " 
Jesus answered him, — come out to judge my 
teachings, — " and knowest not these things ? 
We speak that we do know, and testify that we 
have seen;" and you — teaching you know not 
what — u receive not our testimony." The learned 
ruler is ignorant, the righteous Pharisee scorns the 
truth. If you doubt these things which are done 
every day on earth, how shall you believe if I tell 
you of the wonders of heaven ? Yet I alone can 
tell them; for no man hath ascended up there, 
save he who came down from thence : the Son of 
man, whose presence even now fills heaven and 
earth. And then, using an image well known 
among the Jews, Jesus went on to tell for what he 
had come. " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted 
up." ' 






302 $he $ta*i out of Jacob. 



c 

i 



i I don't know what serpent that was/ said Sue. 
It was the brazen serpent/ said mamma. 
Long before that time, when the IsraeKtes were 
dying with the bite of fiery serpents in the wilder- 
ness, God appointed a wonderful means of cure. 
"Make thee a fiery serpent/' he said to Moses, 
" and set it upon a pole : and it shall come to pass, 
that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon 
it, shall live." ' 

( But how could looking at the serpent cure the 
people ? 9 said Sue, with her head a one side. 

* Because so God had appointed; and that 
brazen serpent which Moses lifted up in the wil- 
derness, was a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus ; 
the people who looked upon it, believing, were 
healed ; but those who would not look, just died as 
they were. Jesus had not yet finished his work, 
but he told Nicodemus what it was to be. " Even 
so must the Son of man be lifted up : " lifted up 
on the cross : " that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish." Jesus says to all the world, 
" Look unto me, and be ye saved ; " but it is only 
those who look that live. And whosoever will not 
believe, is condemned already. "And this is the 
condemnation, that light is come into the world/' — 
and they will not see, they will not believe, — they 
"love darkness rather than light, because their 
deeds are evil." ' 

6 And did Xicodemus believe ? ' asked Cyril. 

6 1 do not know ; we are told nothing more of 
him in this place, nor indeed much anywhere. But 



/ 



Jerusalem. 303 

the Lord's words sound as if there were a great 
struggle in the Pharisee's heart, — as if self-righ- 
teous pride, and pride of learning, were even then 
contending against the truth. "You must be 
born again." Jesus told him, — then left him there, 
to be blinded or guided by the light, as he might 
choose.' 

1 " Light is come into the world," * — Gracie re- 
peated. ' Mamma, that is almost as terrible as it 
is joyful.' 

6 There's my verse, too, in that chapter,' said 
little Sue, tracing her small finger along the page. 
' " God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son." I like that best.' 

And our mother answered, sweet and grave, in 
the old words of St. Paul to the Ephesian church : 
1 " Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear chil- 
dren."' 










IN JUDAEA. 

f^!SB these things," ? said mamma, i when 
the days of the passover were ended and 
the people had departed to their own 
homes, Jesus came with his disciples into 
the land of Judaea. Perhaps he too had gone hack 
to Galilee after the feast, returning now again 
into Judaea ; or else it means only that he went 
forth from the city walls of Jerusalem into the 
open country. The land of Judaea — or Judah, 
got its name thus. 

6 When Solomon died, and his son E/ehohoam 
came to the throne, then came trouble as well. 
Jerohoam, a young Ephraimite whom Solomon had 
employed on some of the public works about Jeru- 
salem, set himself up for king as soon as his master 
was out of the way ; and then the whole nation 
was divided. x Part followed Jeroboam, styling 
themselves the kingdom of Israel; while those 
who were true to David's line and to his rightful 
heir, were called the kingdom of Judah. For at 
first almost all the tribes went after the Ephraimite 
usurper, and Judah alone was faithful to her king. 



In ludaa. 305 

Afterwards the little tribe of Benjamin renewed 
its allegiance, and then to these two the inher- 
itance of Dan and of Simeon was annexed; so 
that the kingdom of Judah at last embraced the 
whole southern end of Palestine, from the moun- 
tains of Ephraim quite down to the desert of Sinai. 

( But from that time the people had no rest ; and 
the next two hundred and fifty years were filled 
with strife and dissension, with jealousies and civil 
wars, between the two kingdoms that had once 
been one. Then the king of Assyria came up 
against Israel, took its cities and carried the people 
away captive into his own land. Because they 
" had sinned against the Lord, and had feared 
other gods," the Lord permitted this. 

' The kingdom of Judah stood firm for a hun- 
dred and fifty years longer ; and God sent them 
messengers to warn them, " because he had com- 
passion on his people, and on his dwelling place : 
but they mocked the messengers of God, and de- 
spised his words, and misused his prophets, until 
the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till 
there was no remedy." And then it came to 
pass, " through the anger of the Lord," that the 
king of the Chaldees came and took Jerusalem, 
and burned the temple, and broke down the walls ; 
and slew many of the people, and carried away the 
rest captive, with Judah's king ; " to fulfil the 
word of the Lord : " leaving only the poor of the 
and in the deserted fields and vineyards. 

'It was all conquer and be conquered in the 
20 






306 ?£he $tat[ out of Jacob. 

East, in those days/ said mamma ; ( and within 
thirty years from that time the king of Ohaldea 
was himself overcome by Darius the Mede ; and all 
he had became part of the great Persian empire 
and possessions. 

'The better to govern and tax the people, Darius 
divided his empire into twenty rulerships or satra- 
pies ; and the fifth satrapy included all Syria, of 
which Palestine is a part.' 

' What are satrapies ? ' said Cyril. 

' Provinces governed by satraps, — a satrap is 
the Persian name for a certain sort of a ruler. But 
the Jews — or Judaeans — disliked the name of 
province; and those who were allowed to come 
back after their long captivity, called it the Land 
of Judaea, — this southernmost portion of the coun- 
try, more than seventy miles long from the desert 
to Mt. Ephraim, and sixty miles across from sea to 
sea. 

1 Next the desert, on the south, Judaea was just 
wavy pasture-land ; on the west lay the rich plain 
of the Shefelah ; while on the east, stretching 
along the Dead Sea, was the wilderness of Judaea, 
— wild, rugged, and uncultivated, — where John 
came preaching. 

c Midway between these two was the hill coun- 
try : a table-land of rolling hills, with deep cut 
water courses, with numberless springs and wells, 

■t-a dark hidden caves among the rocks. Every 
uitlside was terraced, every height crowned with u 
village or a walled town. This was in the days of 



In ludea, 807 

its glory. The land of Judaea was some of the 
wildest of all Palestine ; the haunt of wild beasts 5 
and held by a race tin; strongest, the most distin- 
guished of all the tribes, and the largest of all. 
Judah was foremost in the wars with the Canaan- 
ites for " the promised possession," — " Judah is a 
lion's whelp," said Jacob, when he gave prophetic 
blessings to his twelve sons. So tradition says 
that the standard of the tribe bore that device, 
with the motto : " Rise up, Lord : let thine ene- 
mies be scattered ; " — fit words for the valiant 
race that should be called "the lawgiver," that 
should bear the sceptre for ever. " For it is evi- 
dent that our Lord sprang out of Judah : " he who 
" must reign, till he hath put all enemies under 
his feet." As the channel of all the blessings we 
have or hope for, " God chose the tribe of Ju- 
dah." ; 

* Mamma/ said Gracie, c was Zacharias thinking 
of the standard, when he said those words about 
being " delivered from the hand of our ene- 
mies " ? ' 

1 Perhaps, — it is our standard of victory. When, 
— as John saw in the Revelation — the knowl- 
edge of God was hid, and his mercy shut up ; there 
was found no man in heaven or in earth who was 
worthy to open the sealed book of the destiny of 
this guilty world, nor even to look thereon ; for the 
seven seals of justice were upon it. And then, 
i the Lion of the tribe of Judah prevailed, to open 
the book and to loose the seals thereof." ; 



308 ^he $tiu[ out of Jacob. 

c And there was deliverance in the breaking of 
every one of the seals ! ? said Gracie. 

1 Was that my Jesus, mamma ? ? said little Sue. 

• Ay/ answered mamma ; ; " for in the midst of 
the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain. 
And He came and took the book." All was given 
into his hands, for the sake of his precious blood ; 
and now in every trouble, in every da,nger, in 
every fear, we may say : " Weep not : the Lion of 
the tribe of Judah hath prevailed." 

( He was on earth now, and came into the land 
of Judaea with his disciples, and he tarried there, 
and baptized, Not with his own hands, as did 
John the Baptist, but the people who received him 
and believed his word, were baptized by his disci- 
ples " in the name of the Lord." ' 

'Well, John had not stopped baptizing?' said 
Cyril. 

6 No, John was not yet cast into prison, and as 
long as he was free he was at work. The feast of 
the passover was held in April, and it was probably 
in early summer — perhaps in the end of spring — 
that these next events took place. At that season 
the heat of the Ghor is fierce and almost unen- 
durable, so that John sought other places where 
he might preach and baptize. Just now he was at 
iEnon, — " the springs " — near Salim. Nobody 
knows where this was, — and so of course different 
travellers follow different fancies, and bring home 
various reports. Some think iEnon is away up in 
Samaria, in a springy valley between Shechem and 



In ludea. 309 

fche river Jordan, — but the Bible words seem to 
me to say that John was in Judaea. The most 
probable place, I think, is that spoken of by Dr. 
Barclay, — the Wady Farah, a deep ravine about 
six miles north-east of Jerusalem. The Arabs call 
it " the valley of delight ; " and certainly there is 




" much water " there. The Wady lies two thou- 
sand feet above the Jordan, a narrow, shady ravine, 
with thick overhanging leafage of iig trees and 
grass and tall reeds and bushes ; the rocky sides in 



310 1$hs Jjftaij out of laoob. 

some places very high and near together. " A bold 
stream runs down the glen, widening out from time 
to time into clear bright pools, and fed by half a 
dozen springs which burst forth from among the 
rocks." # At different parts of its course the 
stream is crossed by old aqueducts, once well 
built and handsome, but ruined and broken now . 
and on the rocky face of the ravine are hermit 
chapels and cells, remaining still, though the nar- 
row paths of ascent to them are worn and washed 
away. A few of these grottos, high up on the 
cliff, are used by Arab shepherds for their flocks. 
Wady Farah opens out of another Wady, which 
begins its course on the east slope of the Mount of 
Olives. 5 

i But where is Salim ? ? asked Cyril, — ( " near 
to Salim," it says.' 

'And Salim is just as unknown as iEnon. 
Travellers who think they find iEnon up in Samaria, 
tell of a village near by, where there is a Moslem 
tomb called after " Sheckh Salim ; " while others 
point out a Wady Salim or Selam which runs into 
Wady Farah, in which are the ruins of an ancient 
city of that name. We cannot tell ; but wher- 
ever it was, John the Baptist was there, with his 
disciples. It would seem as if some of the people 
went back and forth between the two places of 
baptism, comparing and disputing ; for there arose 
a question between them and John's disciples 
about purifying : was John's baptism good ? was 

♦Barclay. 



In luttea, 311 

it worth anything? — or must men follow this 
other teacher? Such seems to have been the 
point, rather than minor ones, for John's disciples 
were stirred for the honour of their Master. They 
came to him, sorrowfully and reproachfully, shew- 
ing how his own words had in part done the mis- 
chief. "Babbi, he that was with thee beyond 
Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold the 
same baptizeth, and all men come to him." ' 

* I suppose they had learned to love John, and 
they hadn't learned to love Jesus,' said Gracie. 

'Yes, it was that doubtless in some, and in 
some merely the pride which would uphold their 
own teacher. To this day, I believe, in the wild 
country east of Jordan, there is a little band of 
people who call themselves John's disciples. But 
no price could lure John from his loyalty to his 
Master. " A man can receive nothing," he an- 
swered humbly, " except it be given him from 
heaven : " all my success, all my power, has been 
from God. I am but a man, giving as it has been 
given to me : but this other is the Lord. Ye 
yourselves know that this is what I have always 
told you, and with great joy I tell you now. " He 
that hath the bride is the bridegroom : but the 
friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and 
heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bride- 
groom's voice." 

' In most Eastern marriages/ said mamma, 6 the 
parties never see each other for a whole year after 
they are betrothed: and all intercourse between 



312 Pe $fe»| out of Jacob. 

them, all messages, are by means of another pep- 
son, called the friend of the bridegroom. But 
when the day of marriage comes, and the bride is 
brought home by the bridegroom, and he sees her 
and talks with her face to face, then the friend of 
the bridegroom "rejoiceth greatly," hearing the 
bridegroom's voice. His own part of the work 
has been faithfully done, and all things are now 
in the hands of him to whom they properly be- 
long. "This my joy therefore is fulfilled/" So 
spoke John the Baptist, so speaks every faithful 
minister : thinking it little while people flock after 
him, but rejoicing greatly when they turn to follow 
Christ. " He must increase," said John in the 
gladness of his heart, " but I must decrease. He 
that cometh from above is above all." " And what 
he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth," — 
whereas I am of the earth and can only speak of 
the earth. John's words sound here as if he 
must have been with the Lord when Nicodemus 
came on his visit of inquiry, and so have heard 
the whole conversation ; he repeats so nearly sev- 
eral things that were said. And it may well have 
been ; for if John, like other devout Jews, went 
up to the passover, he would have been certain to 
spend every minute that he could with Jesus ; and 
could thus tell of his own knowledge not only what 
he had heard but what he had seen : " ISTo man 
receiveth his testimony." ? 

i But it was not no one, literally/ said Mabel. 

i Not literally 5 but the proportion was so small 



In ludea. 313 

fchat it seemed like none. You know how we say, 
" everybody does this," — " nobody likes that ; " 
using the words in precisely the same way. " Who 
hath believed our report ? " said the prophet 
Isaiah, speaking beforetime of the ministers of 
Christ. But lest his disciples should put a wrong 
meaning upon this, John went on immediately to 
tell them of the honour, the wisdom, the glory of 
those who do believe. "He that hath received 
his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is 
true : " he is permitted to become a witness for 
God/ 

'I don't understand that, ma'am,' said Cyril. 

' From the beginning of the world, you know,' 
said mamma, * or at least from the day of Adam's 
first sin, God had promised a Saviour; one who 
should be strong enough to destroy the evil spirit 
that had overcome Adam, and powerful enough 
to take away the curse which thenceforth came 
upon all the world. But the time was not yet. 
Again and again was the promise renewed; from 
age to age the glad words rang out : " There shall 
come forth of Zion a deliverer," — "I have laid 
help upon one that is mighty ; " and some be- 
lieved and looked forward, some doubted and 
forgot. Then Jesus came, he in whom "all the 
promises of God are yea and amen ; " and every 
one who received him, rejoiced in the fulfilled 
word of God. " He hath visited and redeemed 
his people, as he spake by the mouth of his holy 
prophets since the world began," said Zacharias 



314 ^be f tai| out of laooK 

ft He hath holpen his servant Israel/' said Mary, 
" as he spake to our fathers." " We have found 
the Messias," said Andrew, — "We have found 
him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets 
did write," said Philip. And to this day, every 
one who receives Jesus, sets to his seal that God 
is true : that his utmost promise of an all-sufficient 
Saviour is fulfilled.' 

'But we don't seal things,' said Mabel. 'We 
only sign them.' 

'We do when the matter is of great impor- 
tance,' said mamma. ' But in the East seals are 
used in all cases, and no document is thought true 
and binding without one. Every man has his 
seal, — a bit of stone or metal or porcelain, — and 
he wears it in a ring on his finger, or hung round 
his neck or upon his arm. And each seal is 
graven with not only the owner's initials, but also 
with a motto ; and often with words telling his 
ancestry as well, serving the same purpose as an 
English coat of arms. In using the seal, it is 
sometimes pressed down upon a morsel of clay, 
sometimes merely dipped in ink and then stamped 
upon the paper. And if a wandering Bedouin is 
too poor even to have his name cut on a piece of 
stone, he dips the end of his finger in the ink, and 
with that stamp seals his contract. 

'This is the way now in the East, and it was 
just so in former times; the king had his signet 
of authority, and the subject his seal of honour; 
and there is a beautiful old custom connected with 



In Xudea, 315 

this matter of the seals, which I want you to un- 
derstand. When a bond or treaty was between a 
king and his subject, and each must set his seal, 
the two seals might not stand close together. The 
king placed his on the inside of the bond, and the 
subject placed his on the outside, so that when the 
paper was rolled up or folded, only the latter would 
be seen. Just so is it in the bond between the 
Lord and every believer; according to the words 
in 2 Tim. ii. 19 : " The foundation of God stand- 
eth sure." For on the inside, hidden from all eyes, 
is the King's seal, having this motto : " The 
Lord knoweth them that are his ; " while on the 
outside, visible to all men, is the seal of the be- 
liever, and its motto : "Let every one that nameth 
the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Even 
a child can be a witness for Jesus and his truth ; 
but then he must affix his seal.' 

6 That is one of the very finest things we have 
neard yet ! ' said Cyril. 

1 With what reason they might all do this, John 
went on to tell them. It was but to receive the 
testimony of him who is above all : " for he whom 
God hath sent speaketh the words of God." He 
hath not the Spirit by measure, as I have, and all 
the prophets, — " of his fulness we receive ; " for 
in him all fulness dwells. " The Father loveth 
the Son, and hath given all things into his hand : " 
the government shall be upon his shoulder, the 
uttermost parts of the earth be his possession. It 
is no question &ow of purifying, of baptism, of 



316 



C|>he Jptaq out of Jacob. 



works : — " He that believeth on the Son hath life: 
and he that believeth not the Son shall not 
see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." 
For now was come the full explanation of what the 
prophet Habbakuk meant • " The just shall live by 
his faith."' 




Cfapfeir 3E36J. 

JACOB'S WELL. 

$$!!$$/ said Cyril, coming in as he often 
!Sf did with a question : ' if all men came to 
Jesus to be baptized, how was it that no 
man received his testimony ? 3 

i It was the old story/ said mamma : l u They do 
honour me with their lips, but their heart is far 
from me." There is no seal set by such a profes- 
sion. 

6 Certainly many came : u The Pharisees heard 
how Jesus made and baptized more disciples than 
John," — to whom had gone out " all Jerusalem 
and Judsea." But it was not the Lord's pleasure 
that their curiosity or ill will should be gratified 
then ; the time was not come : neither would he 
in any way interfere with John's work. For eight 
or nine months after the passover, as it seems, he 
tarried in the land of Judaea ; and then when the 
talk and stir concerning him began to increase and 
take shape, " he left Judsea and departed into Gal- 
ilee. And he must needs go through Samaria." 

6 When God puts a " must needs " in the course 
yt our daily life/ said mamma, stroking Sue's fair 






318 $he Jjfow out of Saoob. 

head, as yet touched with only the daily sunshine, 
'it is never because there is no other way by 
which he could lead us ; there may be many. 
But this is his chosen way, the best. And in our 
Lord's own human life it was the same : the 
" must needs " means only choice, wisdom, and 
purpose, — never necessity.' 

i Then it wasn't the only way to get to Galilee,' 
said Cyril. 

• Not at all : three roads lead from Jerusalem to 
the north. One crosses the Jordan near Jericho, 
and passing up on the east bank recrosses the 
river just below the Lake of Tiberias. Another 
strikes off westward towards the sea, then takes its 
northward course through the Shefelah and the 
plain of Sharon. The third, shortest and most 
direct, winds up and down along the central ridge 
of hills, right through the heart of Samaria. This 
is the common road at the present day. But in 
former times it was a very unpleasant road to a 
Jew ; for the old jealousies had not passed away 
with the rival kings and separate kingdoms, and 
still Judah vexed Ephraim and Ephraim envied 
Judah. Indeed there were some new reasons for 
this. When Judah was carried away into Chaldea, 
the poor of the land were left ; and at the end 
of the long captivity hundreds of the weary exiles 
were permitted to come back to their own land. 
But with Samaria the case was different. Her 
cities were completely stripped of inhabitants, and 
her whole land left desolate,' 



Jacob's 89*11. 319 

'Well I don't see how even a powerful king 
could do that/ said Cyril. 

c It was no unheard of thing in Eastern wars/ 
said mamma. ' Herodotus tells of an island 
" stripped 6f its men ; " of others where the inhab- 
itants were " hunted out ; " and concerning Sama- 
ria, Josephus — the old Jewish historian — says 
that " Shalmanesar transplanted all the people. " 
Her king " was cut off as foam upon the water/' 
"the thorn and the thistle came up upon her 
altars/' and the land laj' empty for forty years. 
Then another king of Assyria brought men of five 
different nations and cities, "and placed them in 
the cities of Samaria instead of the children of 
Israel." These people were idolaters : they fan- 
cied that every land had its own particular god ; 
so when troubles and misfortunes came upon them 
in their new abode, they sent word to the king of 
Assyria, saying : " The nations which thou hast 
removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know 
not the manner oi the God of the land : therefore 
he hath sent lions among them." In answer to 
this, the king sent back one of the captive priests 
who had been carried away, to teach them " the 
manner of the God of the land ; " and he " came 
and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they 
should fear the Lord/' the God of the whole earth. 
But they were unwilling scholars, and only added 
His name to their long list of idols. "Every na- 
tion made gods of their own : " from that day on, 
" they feared the Lord, and served other gods," — 



320 $he $tetj out of laoob. 

and when fear and service divide a man's heart, it 
makes bad work.' 

( I suppose the people of Judah didn't admire 
such proceedings/ said Cyril. 

( Not at all. A hundred years later, when the 
exiled Jews came back to their own land, these 
new Samaritans made great professions of friend- 
ship, and even offered to help rebuild the temple 
of God at Jerusalem. But the Jews would have 
nothing to do with them, in any way; and then 
the Samaritans threw off their friendly mask, and 
became openly what they were already called, "the 
adversaries of Judah and Benjamin."" Then a 
fresh source of quarrel came in to make matters 
worse. About four hundred years before the 
gospel times, a certain Jewish priest, dismissed 
from Jerusalem for misconduct, got permission 
from the Persian ruler to build a temple in Sama- 
ria ; and now, with rival temples as well as rival 
blood, the feud grew deeper and stronger. Pil- 
grims passing through Samaria on their w T ay to 
the Jerusalem feasts were refused hospitality, were 
even sometimes waylaid and ill treated ; so that 
many were driven to take the roundabout coast 
road, or that which lay east of Jordan, instead of 
the direct route. But the Lord had now a special 
purpose to accomplish, — " and he must needs go 
through Samaria." ' 

6 The great highway from Jerusalem to Galilee, 
once broad and in good condition, is now little 
more than a bridle-path, and a difficult one in 



Jacob's ?$tell 



321 



many places : for donkeys and mule drivers make 
it to suit themselves. Once it was thronged with 
pilgrims, with husbandmen, and at times with 
Roman legions, — once, very long ago, " the land 
was fall of horses, neither was there any end of 
the chariots ; " but now " the highways lie waste ; 
the wayfaring man from distant lands ceaseth : " 
there is little passing through for business or for 
gain ; and the traveller journeys on alone, without 
even a chance villager in sight. Journeys amid 
the hushed scenes of Judah's glory; among ruins 
that mark the old gathering places of the thou- 
sands of Israel : for " Israel is an empty vine," and 
" Judah mourneth." 




'If the Lord was at Jerusalem when he depaxt- 
ed into Galilee, it was probably from the Damas- 
cus gate that he set forth; following the road 
21 



322 $he Jpteij out of laooa. 

across the upper end of the Kedron valley, and 
then up to the height of Scopus, where departing 
travellers take their last look at the holy city, as 
passover pilgrims from the north were wont to 
take their first. The hill is strewn with their fare- 
wells and their greetings, in the shape of hundreds 
of little stones heaped up together, three or four 
in a place ; marking spots where the lingering foot 
tarried, whence the eager foot sprang on. From 
Scopus the wild path crosses a broad, desolate 
plateau which stretches on northward for about a 
mile, and then drops gently down yet further into 
the valley beyond. Few trees, few cultivated 
spots are seen; the way is lined with limestone 
rocks and ruined villages; but every step is among 
the sites and associations of Old Testament times. 
Here, close by the little village of Shafat, is the 
hill where once stood Nob — a city of the priests ; 
and in the narrow valley beyond Shafat, David 
waited for Jonathan, who came bringing word of 
Saul's unconquerable hate to the son of Jesse. On 
the steep, barren " Tuleil-el-Ful " — the " hill of 
beans," as Arabs call it, — was Saul's own city, 
Gibeah of Benjamin : it is a shapeless mass of 
ruins now. Then comes Er-Eam, — a wretched 
Arab hamlet, but built up in part with fragments 
of columns and great hewn stones : this was the 
old Eamah of Benjamin. 

6 Then comes Bireh, the ancient Beeroth ; and 
from Bireh the road descends into a lovely Wady 
or water course ; the sides terraced at first, but 



Jacob's m*\). 323 

then growing wilder and steeper, and overhung 
with grey cliffs. In the spring every possible spot 
here is green with wheat. Next up the high 
bank of the ravine, and with a sharp turn round 
the brow of the hill ; and there at your feet is one 
of the exquisite picture-views of the Holy Land. 
The glen you have just left, creeping softly out 
from among its heights, is met by another that 
opens in from the east ; and the two join forces, 
and wind off together among the distant hills. 
On every side now there is cultivation. Olive trees 
scatter their grey light and shade over the bed of 
the glen, and fig trees stand among the higher 
rocks ; and highest of all are vineyards, mounting 
on terraced steps to the very top of the hill. This 
is part of the inheritance of Joseph's son Ephraim ; 
whose land was blessed of the Lord " for the pre- 
cious things of heaven, and for the dew, and for 
the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the 
precious fruits brought forth by the sun, — the 
chief things of the ancient mountains ; the pre- 
cious things of the earth and the fulness thereof 
And the old blessing seems to linger among these 
hills even yet. 

i You can imagine the little band of disciples 
following their Master along the rough, worn road, 
— resting beneath a tree here, or stooping to 
drink from a wayside spring further on, though 
the scene was not as lonely then as it is now. 
Now, it seems as if everybody was hid, or hiding ; 
and if you catch sight of a swarthy Arab face peer- 



824 $he $t*i[ out of laoob. 

ing out from behind the rocks, you have not the 
least wish to improve the acquaintance. Yet the 
unseen villagers carry on a great deal of fine hus- 
bandry here and there. Beyond the valley of 
which I spoke just now, there is a rugged plat- 
form of high ground, stretching a mile or more 
east and west, and bristling all over with great 
peaks and points of limestone. The patches of 
soil between them are nowhere more than two or 
three yards square ; and yet skill, and patient 
labour, have turned the whole height into a fig 
orchard. The loose stones are all gathered into 
heaps, and the fig trees send down their roots into 
the clefts of the rock, and twist and thrust their 
branches in and out among the rough peaks, and 
fling the shadows of their broad leaves like a veil 
above the whole. The path rushes down from here 
into the bed of a winter brook, and after stumbling 
along there for half a mile, it joins two other dells, 
— making what the Arabs call a " Mussullabeh," 
or place of cross glens. Very wild, very lovely : 
the sides terraced in part, while here and there the 
white limestone cliffs gleam out, and shew the 
pierced openings to their old rock tombs. Then 
you pass a height crowned with an old ruined 
castle ; and so come to Ain-el-Haraniiyeh — the 
Robbers' fountain/ 

* Mamma/ said Sue, i if I came there ? I should 
run away pretty quick/ 

i Many other people have thought just so/ said 
mamma \ i and many have done it too : even men, 



Jacob's Mall. 325 

if they are alone, often like to hurry past the 
Bobbers' fountain by daylight. For the place has 
a well-earned bad name ; and every year adds to 
the list of bad deeds committed in that fair little 
dell. Yet it is probable, I think, that here the 
Lord spent the night which divided his two days' 
journey into Samaria.' 

'What could make you think that, mamma?' 
said Mabel. 

( It is just at a convenient distance, — travellers 
who are not afraid often camp there ; and then the 
place is so winsome in its prettiness. The stream 
rills down through a fringe of fern leaves, filling 
two or three hollows in the rock with its sweet 
water; and there is a fresh carpet of green turf; 
and crocuses and anemones and cyclamen bloom 
and gleam among the herbage, and in every crev- 
ice of the rocks. The surrounding hills are (many 
of them) terraced to the very top, — thirty-six 
terraces — rising one above the other — on some ; 
and each one filled with olive trees and figs.' 

'But where could anybody sleep, that didn't 
have a tent ? ' said Cyril. 

' On the grass, or upon a rock, — Jacob's stone 
pillow has never gone out of fashion in those 
lands ; and with a mantle for covering, and a 
Syrian sky for canopy, one may easily rival Jacob's 
sleep, if not his dreams. If it were so, that the 
wayfarers rested that night at Ain-el-Haramiyeh, 
then it must have been early morning when they 
proceeded on theii way. Up and up among the 



326 @ho $tmi out of Jacob 

terraced hills, rich in the season with olives and 
figs and pines and corn ; the birds in their morn- 
ing burst of joy ; and on everything the beauty of 
the dawning light. A little later in the season these 
hills and valleys are blazoned with the hues of a 
thousand flowers ; but it was early winter yet, and 
only the fair little white crocus, and purple cycla- 
men, and blue veronica were in bloom, with here 
and there an anemone before its time. It seems 
as if that must have been a wonderful morning 
among the hills of Ephraim, — as if they must have 
echoed with the old doxology : " Praise ye the 
Lord from the heavens : praise him in the heights, 
— mountains, and all hills ; fruitful trees, and all 
cedars ; beasts, and all cattle ; creeping things, and 
flying fowl." Only " the young men and maidens " 
were silent; and "the old men and children" 
knew not who it was that passed by. 

'From this point the way grows less lonely. 
Files of camels, with their tinkling bells, come in 
sight ; and mules, and donkeys ; and armed Arabs 
pass you on the road, and "flocks with their shep- 
herds are in the valleys, and peasants — in their 
gay red, white and green dresses — are in the 
fields. So on past Shiloh — now Seilum — where 
once the ark of God was placed, and all the tribes 
came up to worship ; the road widening and im- 
proving, and taking its course now and then 
through the green plains which interlace the 
Mounts of Ephraim. 

6 Passing thus on from point to point, you come 



Jacob's Mell 327 

at last to the foot of a high, bleak ridge, up which 
the path goes winding to the very top. A toil- 
some half hour's climb it is, but then what a view ! 
The plain at your feet is seven miles long, un- 
broken with fence or wall, but tufted here and 
there with olive trees. A low, fringing ridge of 
hills bounds it on the east, but on the west the 
heights mount up in barren supremacy; and on 
the very highest point of all, there stands a small 
white Moslem wely, or tomb : the landmark of 
Mt. Gerizim, the place-keeper of the old Samar- 
itan temple. Mt. Ebal rises just beyond ; and 
in the cleft between the two lies Nablous or Shec- 
hem. Far, far to the north — eighty miles away 
— is the blue cone of Hermon with its crown of 
snow/ 

6 Hermon is Lebanon, isn't it ? ' said Gracie. 

1 Hermon is the highest peak of the eastern 
Lebanon range, — or of "Lebanon toward the 
sunrising," as it is called in the Bible ; the Anti- 
Lebanus of the modern maps : it is the " goodly 
mountain ,? which Moses so longed to see. When 
all the lower country is parched and sunburnt 
there are always bands of snow upon Hermon.' 

'You said the other day, ma'am/ said Cyril, 
'that Lebanon once blessed all the land with 
springs and rains. Why don't it now ? ' 

6 God has made use of many second causes to 
carry out his curse,' answered mamma ; ' but that 
the people called down themselves. Here, on these 
two hills by Shechem, the tribes once stood, and 



328 1$h$ $tmj out of Jacob. 

heard read out the blessings and the curses which 
should be their portion, according as they were 
faithful or not to Him who had brought them up 
out of Egypt. " If thou wilt not hearken unto the 
voice of the Lord thy God," said Joshua, " to ob- 
serve to do all bis commandments," — " all these 
curses shall come upon thee." 

'"Thy heaven that is over thy head shall be 
brass — 

'"The Lord shall make the rain of thy land 
powder and dust — 

i " The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall 
a nation which thou knowest not, eat up ; and 
thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway — 

1 " Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, 
and a byword — 

' " And ye shall be left few in number." 

1 So read out the Levites, standing on Mt. Ebal, 
and all the people said, Amen, — and the weight 
of that " amen," is on the whole land now. " All 
nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done 
thus unto this land ? " — " Then men shall say, 
Because they have forsaken the covenant of the 
Lord God of their fathers." 

1 From the high ridge which overlooks the plain 
of el-Mukneh, Shechem itself is not in sight ; but 
as you go gently down into the plain many little 
villages peep out here and there from their hiding 
places among the rocks. Not one is set upon the 
level ground, but each has climbed the hillside, 
some further, some less far/ 



Jacob's «tel!. 329 

4 That's a queer arrangement/ said Cyril. 

' It is one of safety and defence/ said mamma ; 
' for the people are wild and quarrelsome, though 
they have little to fight for, and nothing to fight 
ahout except some old family feud or late affront. 
In general this is the course of Arab quarrels. 
Somewhere, at some time, somebody was hurt by 
some one else; and as blood revenge never dies 
out among the children of Ishmael, so every rela- 
tion of the man who did the deed, lives thenceforth 
in peril. He may be little more than a beggar, 
and his very rags scanty, but he goes armed to the 
teeth : a long gun in his hand, a short sword in his 
belt ; perhaps pistols and a club as well. All these 
he carries about with him ; and watches his goats 
on the hilltop, or drives his plough in the plain, 
with these sharp companions. Fierce enough he 
looks, with rags and weapons in such unequal pro- 
portions ; his red cap or Tar bush made very long, 
and hanging down at one side over a white turban ; 
a swarthy face, and wild eyes. Perhaps the first 
blood drawn in the quarrel between two families 
was shed four hundred years ago — and ever since 
then the law of blood revenge has been at work, 
striking now on one side, now on the other. Such 
are the people about Nablous — the old Shecnem.' 

'But things weren't so in the Bible times?' 
said Mabel. 

' Very much so, some things. Moses appointed 
cities of refuge to which a man might flee from 
the avenger of Wood, and Shecbem itself was one 



sso 



^be %to\ out of Jaoofc 



of these cities. People and nations in the East 
may pass away, but the customs of a land remain.' 
1 Nbe customs they must be, to live among ! ' 
said CyriL 




6 But I don't see how they can do their work, 
ploughing or anything, dressed so/ said Gracie. ^ 

< They do it Arab fashion/ said mamma, ' which 
is seldom very thoroughly. No Arab likes work.' 

< And was it all just so, when my Jesus must 



Jacob's Moll 331 

needs go through Samaria ? ? asked Sue. i The 
roads and the flowers, and everything ? ' 

1 The people were different, Sue, for Judaea was 
full of Jews and Samaria of Samaritans ; and there 
were more people, and they were less wild than 
these poor Arabs ; and the land was in better cul- 
tivation. But it was the same old road, going over 
the same hills : and though many a town was then 
standing which is now in ruins, and though the 
villagers were doubtless better dressed, yet all that 
made less difference to his eyes than to ours ; " for 
as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of 
man to man." And " the Lord looketh upon the 
heart." 

' Passing down the west slope of the ridge, and 
then along the green plain of el-Mukneh ; Jesus 
came to " a city of Samaria, which is called 
Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob 
gave to his son Joseph." Now that parcel of 
ground, as we are told elsewhere, lay before Shec- 
hem, — and as " before," in Eastern speech, means 
K to the east of," therefore Jacob's field must have 
been just east of the city, — either part or all of 
the plain of el-Mukneh.' 

' What made them use " before " in such a queer 
sense ? ? said Mabel. 

c It is an old habit of words, begun in very early 
times, and kept up in some places to the present 
day. A man reckoned the points of the compass 
with his face towards the sunrising. Then the 
east was before him and the west behind; the 



332 (phe $taq out of Jacob. 

south lay at his right hand and the north on his 
left. " If thou wilt take the left hand/' said 
Abraham to Lot, in their division of lands, " then 
I will go to the right." ' 

1 And was Sychar Shechem ? ' asked Cyril. 

1 That is one of the vexed questions among Pal- 
estine travellers and learned men. The name 
Sychar is used nowhere else in the Bible, and some 
think it was merely a nickname of reproach — - 
meaning " foolishness " or " drunkenness " — and 
given by the Jews, in their national hatred, to the 
great Samaritan city. I must confess, it seems to 
me little like the sweet, grave dignity of John's 
style of narration, to use such a byword ; and I am 
more ready to believe (with others) that Sychar 
was one of Shechem's suburban towns ; perhaps 
represented still in the little village of Aschar, 
or traceable in the scattered foundations that lie 
among the old trees of the olive grove about half 
an hour east of Nablous, near the mouth of the 
valley. It is hard to tell : modern writers are 
divided, and old authorities seem confused and con- 
tradictory; but whichever opinion may be true, 
Sychar was near Jacob's parcel of ground, and 
"Jacob's well was there." 

i The wells of an Eastern country,' said mamma, 
4 like its customs, are permanent things ; outlast- 
ing the cities by which they stand, or the nation 
they may supply. The valley of Nablous is full 
of springs — there are some eighty just in and 
about the town itself, with others further down the 



Jacob's «Ml> 333 

valley 5 and still the old well of Jacob holds its 
place, — one of the few sites in Palestine which 
are not even questioned. The well is on the point 
of a low, rocky spur of Mt. Gerizim, that stretches 
out from the hill just where the Shechem valley 
opens into the plain of el-Mukneh, and was per- 
haps the western limit of Jacob's " parcel of a 
field." On one hand the level plain, with its corn 
and olives ; on the other, the ascending valley, 
rich with all fruits and gay with all flowers almost 
that grow, and musical with the song of night- 
ingales and other birds. The valley of the Nile 
itself is hardly richer than the vale of Shechem. 
And above all, the soft, tremulous atmosphere, the 
faint haze, which is so seldom seen among the 
parched lands of the East, hovers over Shechem 
and its eighty springs.' 

i And Jacob's well, mamma ? 9 said Gracie. 

1 Jacob's well, as I said, is down at the mouth 
of the valley, in the clear heat of el-Mukneh ; for 
it stands but twenty feet above the plain. A 
round, smooth shaft, carefully laid in mason work 
for a few feet at the top ; the rest a straight bore 
in the solid rock, nine feet across and seventy-five 
feet deep. Once it was more than a hundred, but 
travellers have done their best to fill it up.' 

i Fill it up ! ' — exclaimed the children. 

( Truly yes,' answered mamma : ' some fling in 
stones to test its depth, and some for the wise 
pleasure of hearing them clink and splash as they 
go down ; and so the old well that Jacob dug is 



334 fphe $taq out of Jacob* 

gradually filling up by Gentile hands. Travellers 
are not the only ones in fault, however ; for the 
Arabs in their quarrels, and the Moslems in their 
rule, have from time to time helped on the work 
The old church above the well is no loss, nor the 
vaulted room where once the monks set up an 
altar ; but their stones have been so rudely dis- 
lodged and thrown about, that the well mouth is 
now but a dark opening in a heap of rubbish/ 

'And was there a church there when Jesus 
came ? ' asked Mabel. 

6 Not then, nor for long, long after. Then, there 
were but the old worn curb-stones of the well, and 
perhaps the great stone for its cover. 

'Here, then, on the border of the well, Jesus 
aat ; " being wearied with his journey." It was 
about the sixth hour, or twelve o'clock ; and the 
midday sun beat down with a pitiless heat, which 
no dweller in western lands can imagine. Jacob's 
well is a good six hours' journey from Ain-el-Har- 
amiyeh, and from that — or some neighbouring 
place — the Lord must have walked since break 
of day. He was wearied with his journey, — there 
is no one of all our infirmities with which he can- 
not be touched. 

4 Shechem itself was not in sight from the well ; 
but numberless smaller towns and villages looked 
out from their stations among the hills. El- 
Mukneh was barren as yet, — with barley just up, 
and wheat not sown ; and the host of spring flow- 
ers all biding their time. The red earth of the 



Jacobs Mell 335 

plain, and the grey olive trees, and the long road 
through Wady Mukneh, were shining in the noon- 
tide glare: over all an intensely blue sky; and 
up against the blue the old time-honoured and re- 
nowned peaks of Ebal and Gerizim. Such was 
the scene where Jesus sat alone at midday, being 
wearied; and his disciples were gone away into 
the city to buy meat/ 




TEE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 

r * 
3PSB$5 cometli a woman of Samaria to 

draw water." — If I begin our talk to-day 
with shewing you a picture/ said mamma, 
'you must understand that it is not 
meant for a fancy sketch of the old scene : our 
Lord Jesus came not of Arab blood, neither had 
the woman of Samaria any kin to these her 
swarthy successors. But as while the people 
change, the old customs remain, this picture is 
probably as true to the well-side groups in former 
days, as to those which may be seen now at every 
Palestine spring and fountain. In way and 
manner it is, I presume, a perfect illustration of 
our story. 

6 " Jesus therefore, being wearied with his jour- 
ney, sat thus on the well," — for the wells are the 
halting places, all through the East ; " and there 
cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water." 
Women are the water drawers there, still ; carry- 
ing sometimes a stone or earthen pitcher to be 
filled at the fountain, if th£ water rises near the 
surface ; or else a skin bucket and rope to let down 
22 



338 $ho $taq out of Jacob. 

into the well. And from the earliest times till 
now, the traveller resting by the well-side said to 
the women who came to draw, " Give me to 
drink." ' 

' Jacob himself did once/ said Grace. 

1 And Abraham's servant/ said Cyril. 

6 Generally the request is gladly met ; and the 
woman " hastes/' as did Rebekah, to let down her 
pitcher and draw for the thirsty stranger. But 
sometimes national or religious hatred will change 
all that. Only a short time since an English 
wayfarer at a spring just beyond Nablous, asked 
water of a woman who was there with her pitcher, 
and was sharply refused. "The Christian dogs 
might get it for themselves/' she said. With more 
civility of words, yet with maybe the same sort of 
feeling, spoke the woman of long ago : " How is it 
that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which 
am a woman of Samaria ? " for the Jews had no 
dealings with the Samaritans.' 

' Even in such little things ? ' said Cyril. 

i Even in such little things. The separation was 
complete, the hatred very bitter ; there was even a 
special and solemn curse poured out against the 
Samaritans in the public service of the temple at 
Jerusalem. No Samaritan might give evidence 
against a Jew, his oath would not be taken in a 
court of law ; no Jew might visit or even salute 
a Samaritan ; nor eat with him, nor sleep with 
him, nor drink from his cup : merely to touch it 
would have rendered him " unclean." No wonder 



$he Moman of $ama*tia. 339 

the woman was surprised when the Lord said to 
her, " Give me to drink." How is this ? she an- 
swered.' 

1 1 don't just see why he did ask her/ said Cyril. 
' He must have known she wouldn't give it to him.' 

* Whoever would win people to the truth/ said 
mamma, c must let them feel that he neither shuns 
nor shrinks from them. Not, " Stand by thyself, 
I am holier than thou ; " but, " Come with us, and 
we will do thee good/' is the Christian motto. Be- 
fore Jesus spoke of her faults or hinted at her 
need, he first set aside by his example the proud 
Jewish scorn and loathing of these poor strangers : 
he was willing to drink from her cup, he was 
willing she should do him a kindness. Or if not, 
still he would do her one. How gently he an- 
swers her refusal, how pityingly he sets forth her 
blind ignorance, — and oh, they are some of the 
saddest words that can be said to a poor human 
soul : " If thou knewest " — " if thou hadst known." 
To meet Jesus and not know him ; to have God's 
hand held out, and not even see the gift that it 
offers ! ' 

6 Mamma, what gift did my Jesus mean?' 
asked Sue. 

c The unspeakable gift, — the gift of himself. 
" God spared not his own Son " — " Jesus gave 
himself for our sins." If thou knewest, thou 
wouldst have asked of him. Yes, so it would be 
always ; but people do not know, because they wil] 
not believe.' 



340 ^5ho Jjftan out of Jacob. 

i u Thou wouldst have asked — and he would 
have given," ' Gracie repeated. 

6 What is living water? ' said Mabel. 

( An unfailing, living spring. Not the lain 
water, caught in muddy pools and hollows; nor 
those deceitful brooks which vanish away when the 
sun is hot ; nor the deep cistern water, stored up 
by human care ; but the stream which bursts forth 
unfailing, from a far-away source which no eye 
can see 5 prepared by his hand who " sendeth the 
springs into the valleys." There is a play upon 
words here, as well as that speaking by a figure 
which all people in the East love. I asked living 
water of thee, said Jesus to the woman, and have 
been refused ; but if thou hadst known who it was 
that spoke, thou wouldest have asked of him, and 
thy request have been granted.' 

6 How had he asked her for living water ? * said 
Mabel. ( I thought it was out of the well.' 

6 And well water was always called living, as 
distinguished from that of pools or cisterns. A 
well in the East is fed by springs. So the woman 
at first took the Lord's words quite simply ; yet 
answered with more respect than she had hitherto 
shewn : " Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and 
the well is deep." It is an old, peculiar mark of 
Jacob's well, unchanged to this day. In most 
Palestine wells the water rises to within easy 
reaching distance, but here the mere surface of the 
water is often more than seventy feet down, and 
you can only draw with a very long cord. It is 



^ho Moman of $amai}ia. 341 

one of the tokens by which Jacob's well is known, 
to this day. " From whence hast thou that living 
water ?" asked the wondering Samaritan; stand- 
ing with her skin bucket in her hand, gazing at 
the thirsty traveller who had asked (for a Jew) so 
strange a thing, and then as strangely turned the 
request round upon her. " Art thou greater than 
our father Jacob ? " she said, half curiously, half 
in scorn. He not only dug the well, but he drank 
of it, — and his children, and his cattle : canst 
thou get living water without digging, and with 
nothing to draw ? ' 

' Jacob wasn't her father, though/ said Cyril. . 

1 The Samaritans are not the only people who 
have laid claim to a more noble descent than was 
theirs by right. Dwelling in the land which had 
once really belonged to Jacob's sons, they too 
called themselves his children ; heirs of his hon 
ours and his blessing. There was some mixture 
of Israelitish blood among them, I suppose, — 
some scattering offshoots of the tribes whom Shal- 
manesar had "transplanted;" and perhaps the 
renegade priest who built the Samaritan temple 
may have carried over a few people with him ; at 
all events, " children of Jacob " is their chosen 
name, even now, when there are not two hundred 
Samaritans in all the world. u Art thou greater 
than our father Jacob ? " said the woman, — and 
Jesus answered yes. "Whosoever drinketh of 
this water shall thirst again : — but the water 
that I shall give, shall be in him a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life." ? 



342 $hs jjftaq out of £acob. 

* The wells of salvation and Jacob's well, side by 
side/ said Gracie. 

6 Yes, and it is hard for us to imagine the pe- 
culiar power that such words would have upon 
any dweller in Eastern lands ; where water is life ; 
the supply often uncertain and scanty ; and where 
soil and climate provoke the most overpowering 
thirst, so that people will drink eagerly such 
water as we would not touch with the tips of 
our fingers. The mere sound was full of cool re- 
freshment : " A well of water, springing up into 
everlasting life." And behind this figure, so per- 
fect to Eastern ears, there lies a meaning for all 
who dwell in the length and breadth of this wil- 
derness world ; where even brethren sometimes 
" deal deceitfully as a brook," and " the pleasant 
places are dried up : " for, " Whosoever drinketh 
of the water that I shall give him shall never 
thirst." Never thirst,' — mamma repeated : ' it is 
one of the promises of heaven. Yes, and he that 
cometh to Jesus " hath the promise of the life that 
now is," as well ; and for him the Lord will open 
springs in the desert, and pour floods upon the 
dry ground. "Behold, my servants shall drink, 
but ye shall be thirsty." 9 

6 How quick the Lord's words came true ! ? said 
Gracie, — 'how soon she "asked of him." The 
minute she understood just a little bit what he 
could give.' 

* She knew but very dimly yet, ? said mamma ; 
' the truth and the figure were all mixed up in her 



t$hz ®9oman of $amat|ia. 343 

mind. Yet one ray of the Lord's double meaning 
seems to have shot down, " quick and powerful/' 
to the hidden needs of her heart. u Sir," said the 
poor woman of Samaria, a suppliant before him 
whom she had but just turned away, " give me 
this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither 
to draw." Children, that is one of the great life 
prayers of the Bible ! And whenever, in all your 
life, you are attracted by worldly honour or pleas- 
ure or gain, — those reservoirs that men have built 
up or hewn out, — go pray this prayer of the 
poor Samaritan. Come not thither to draw ! — 
not though every great one of earth trod the path 
before you. The works look strong, but they are 
but " broken cisterns ; " and the streams sound 
sweet, but "when it is hot they vanish away." 
He that cometh to Jesus shall never thirst ; and 
" whosoever will, let him take the water of life, 
freely." ' 

'And was that what the woman of Samaria 
meant, mamma ? ? said Gracie. 

' No, I think she hardly knew herself what she 
meant. But smitten with the sweet sound of the 
words, drawn on by the heart longing for better 
things which even those furthest from God feel 
now and then, — the request sprang to her lips: 
an echo of the old cry for the Desire of nations. 
A request such as many a one makes ; mere long- 
ing, backed by no purpose. It was a light thing 
to ask for the water of life ; but to procure it for 
her, to have it in his gift, cost the very life blood 
of him to whom she spoke/ 



844 t$ht $tati out of Jacob. 

1 She knew nothing about that/ said Mabel. 

{ And the Lord did not tell her then : the first 
thing was to deepen and clear up her sense of 
need. With a few simple words that no one else 
would have understood, he brought her sinful life 
to her remembrance, proving that he knew it all. 
" Go, call thy husband," he said, — and again the 
word was " sharper than any two-edged sword " — 
u a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart." The woman of Samaria felt the blow, — 
yet for a moment made as though she felt it not, 
trying bravado. "I have no husband," she an- 
swered sullenly. But she had to do with one 
whose eyes are on all the ways of man. " Thou 
hast well said, I have no husband/ 5 Jesus an- 
swered her with grave rebuke. "For thou hast 
had five husbands ; and he whom now thou hast 
is not thy husband." Five times had she been 
married, and when for the last time she was sepa- 
rated by death or by divorce, she had gone off 
with yet another man to whom she was not even 
married. " In that saidst thou truly," was the 
Lord's comment. You have confessed your own 
sin/ 

1 So much for trying to answer God/ said Cyril. 

' When God speaks to a sinner in reproof/ said 
mamma, ( there is but one reply : " Behold, I am 
vile : what shall I answer thee ? I will lay my 
hand upon my mouth." But at first the poor 
woman of Samaria — like many another — tried 
to stand her ground. Staggered by the stranger's 



$he Socman of $ama*iia* 345 

clear knowledge of all her life, she made another 
unwitting confession : " Sir, I perceive that thou 
art a prophet," — this is all true : but then she 
sheered off from heart work and heart questions, 
and took refuge in outside disputed points. 
The old, old fashion, which will never die out ! 
Such is my life, she acknowledged ; — but, " Our 
fathers worshipped in this mountain ; and ye say, 
that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to 
worship." ' 

6 What mountain was that ? ? said Mabel. 

' Gerizim ; the old mount of blessing ; on a low 
spur of which she stood at the moment, by Jacob's 
well. Here, on the very top of the mountain 
had stood once the rival temple of Samaria, and 
though that had long been destroyed, yet still the 
Samaritans prayed towards Gerizim, even as did 
the Jews towards Jerusalem. A false Jewish 
priest had built the temple in the first place ; and 
when it had stood on its high lookout for two hun- 
dred years, another Jew — John Hyrcanus, high 
priest and ruler at Jerusalem — came with his 
forces and levelled it with the ground. A hun- 
dred and thirty years had passed since then, but 
still the people kept up their old feeling, and said, 
" Our fathers worshipped in this mountain ; " and 
now that near two thousand years more are gone 
by, still the top of Mt. Gerizim is a sacred place. 
There is but a handful of Samaritans left in the 
old inheritance of Ephraim (there are none else- 
where), but year by year they keep the feast of 



346 tf>he $tei| out of £aoob. 

the passover on the crest of the old mountain; 
there slay their sacrifices, and mark their fore- 
heads with the flowing blood, and eat the paschal 
supper in the old fashion : girded, and staff in 
hand. During all the days of unleavened bread, 
they camp out upon the mountain top, and twice 
more in the year go there in solemn procession for 
other feasts ; and still they say to strange travellers 
from a distance : " Our fathers worshipped in this 
mountain." m ^ 

c So spoke the woman of Samaria in answer to 
the Lord's searching words ; and thought, I dare 
say, that she had cleverly turned the conversation 
away from herself, in a way no Jew could with- 
stand : the rival " mountain of the Lord's house " 
was one of the bitterest points in all the feud. 
But Jesus, in his divine wisdom and patience, at 
first passed by the question ; and told her that all 
outward forms were as trifling as her excuses were 
vain. " Woman," he said, "the hour cometh, 
when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at 
Jerusalem, worship the Father : " even now has 
that hour struck. God dwelleth not in temples 
made with hands, — he is a Spirit : and must be 
worshipped in spirit and in truth. These outward 
signs, these numberless ceremonies ; a chosen 
place, a particular building ; shall all pass away. 
No name or profession will answer now; no sacri- 
fices, no feasts, no dress : the reality is come, of 
which they were but signs, and the signs are for 
ever done away. The worship of God must be 
with a new heart, not with old forms.' 



^he Moman of ^amatjia* 347 

1 And then he took up the other question,' said 
Cyril. 

1 Yes, for no point of real truth is unimportant. 
You know not what you worship, he told her : 
" salvation is of the Jews." ' 

{ Mamma/ said Graeie, 'her answer sounds as 
if she knew that already/ 

1 Yes, so I think. She did not deny his asser 
tion, hut at once explained it hy some established 
fact. "I know," she said, pondering his words, 
and eager perhaps to prove that she did know 
something, — "I know that Messias cometh." 
Ah ! ? said mamma, closing her books, e these are 
pitiful words ! — why are disciples so unlike their 
Lord ! Ignorant as you say we are, — you Jews ! 
who have never tried to teach us anything, — 
u when Messias cometh " — your own Messias — 
"he will teach us all things." And Jesus an- 
swered: It is true. Ask, and you shall receive. 
" I that speak unto thee am he." ? 

i Mamma, was she glad ? ' said Sue. ' Did she 
believe ? y 

*I think she believed his words fully. For 
what Jew was ever like this ? — With no scorn of 
her, for he asked to drink of her cup ; wifch no 
hatred to Gerizim, for he said that the Jerusalem 
worship too should come to an end ; with no enmity 
to her race, for he spoke to her of God and sal- 
vation; while all other Jews believed that a 
Samaritan was beyond the reach of heavenly grace, 
m outcast in botli worlds. But whether she wo? 



848 (J5he #ten out of Jacob. 

glad or not, depends upon what heart answer she 
gave to his words. For in a whole life long, there 
is no such breathless moment as that in which the 
soul first comes face to face with this : " Behold, 
now is the accepted time." ' 




eiwpfef mil 

FROM SYCHAR TO GALILEE. 

mWW&&,' said Mabel, 'what sort of 
meat the disciples got, when they went 
away into the city ? 9 

i None at all, I fancy, of the kind you 
mean/ said mamma : " such meat is but little 
used in the East in ordinary. There are no butch- 
ers' shops full of ready-killed beef and mutton 
and veal, for fresh meat spoils directly in that hot 
climate ; so the rich people kill a sheep or a kid as 
they want it, just long enough before dinner for 
the cook to do his work, and the poor live upon 
other things. "Rise up, slay, and eat," is the 
Eastern rule of custom ; now, as it was long ago. 

1 Arab chiefs can do this, and Moslem rulers ; 
and their hosts of retainers make clean work of 
anything that remains from the master's table. 
But the common people, who have no flocks of 
their own, nor money to buy a whole sheep or kid 
for a single dinner, live almost entirely upon bread 
and fruit and vegetables. In some places they 
have fish as well, in others locusts. The "meat" 
with which the disciples returned to Jacob's well, 



360 $ho $few| out of Jacob. 

was probably a supply of thin cakes of bread, 
dried figs, raisins, with a few late olives or early 
oranges. There might have been cucumbers too, 
and honey. With these simple stores they came, 
and much to their amazement, found their Master 
talking with one of that despised race who were 
publicly cursed in every Sabbath service at Jeru- 
salem. They had begun to learn, however, that 
his ways were not like their ways ; and " no man 
said, Why talkest thou with her ? " ' 

'Well how had they bought all their things 
without talking?' said Sue. c That's what /want 
to know.' 

'Ah that was a different case. They would 
buy and sell together, these people who hated 
each other so bitterly, — it was only the words 
and offices of kindness that were forbidden. Like 
the barrier set up between the Jews and other 
nations in later times, — in the dark ages of 
Christendom, — " We will buy with you, sell with 
you, get gain with you ; but we will not eat with 
you, drink with you, nor sleep with you." 

* The disciples marvelled, but did not speak. 
And the woman, on her part, as if their presence 
broke the spell which had held her fast, left her 
pitcher at the well — sure token that she would 
come back again — and went her way into the 
city, to declare the marvel which had sunk so 
deep into her own heart. " Come ! " she cried, — 
" come, see a man which told me all things that 
over I did : is not this the Christ f J * — he who is 
to " tell us all things." ' 



Jfjtoro $tjchm} to (palileo. 351 

4 But he had told her very little/ said Mabel. 

1 So much, and such secret things, that she 
knew he knew all. And she spoke with such 
utter conviction and assuredness/ that — woman 
though she was — the men of Sychar gave heed. 
People in the East are easily drawn together by 
any story or report of a new thing. They have 
not much to do — or do not much — and are 
always ready for novelty or amusement, in what- 
ever shape. So at once, as it seems, (i they went 
out of the city, and came unto him," — trooping 
down the beautiful valley — the loiterer from the 
city streets, and the merchant from his shop, and 
the rich man from his noonday nap. The tiller 
of the field quitted his plough to join them as they 
came along, and the herdsman left his flock of 
kids on the hillside, and hurried down to see 
where the others were going. 

6 Meanwhile, the disciples, now once more 
alone with their Master, set out before him the 
provisions they had brought ; and then, finding he 
gave no heed, they " prayed him, saying, Master, 
eat." They had left him weary, faint perhaps for 
want of food, and now coming back with their 
supply, met only preoccupied looks and answers : 
" I have meat to eat that ye know not of," he said 
unto them. Then said the disciples, whispering 
together, " Hath any man brought him aught to 
eat ? " Jesus knew all their thoughts ; from the 
proud wonder that he would talk with a Samari- 
tan, to the slowness of heart which could not yet 



362 ^be JRfflj out of laoob. 

understand who their Master really was nor fo* 
what he had come. u Jesus saith tin to them, My 
meat is to do the will of him that sent me," — it 
was their first lesson in active Christian life/ 

' It sounds just like a reproof/ said Mabel. 

( He is a very perfect man to whom the Lord's 
example does not come as a reproof, when placed 
side by side with his own. See how it was here. 
The disciples had gone away into the city, they 
the people of God, among people that dwelt in 
darkness, worshipping "they knew not what;" 
and had passed along, greeting no man, saluting 
no man, with no word of kindness or teaching for 
any. Then came back to their Master, to find 
him rejoicing that he had declared the truth to 
one soul out of that very city : his own human 
need forgotten and pushed aside in the strength of 
his divine love. " Ye should remember the words 
of the Lord Jesus," wrote the apostle Paul, " how 
that he said it is more blessed to give than to re- 
ceive." And what was that will he came to do, 
that work he made haste to finish ? — "To bind 
up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the 
captive, and the opening of the prison to them 
that are bound/' Already had " the pleasure of 
the Lord " begun to prosper in his hands ; his ear 
could catch the clank of the falling fetters from 
souls^ that were bound ; his eye could see the 
weary servants of sin, coming forth to be "the 
Lord's freemen." " Say not ye," he added to his 
irondering disciples, " There are yet four months 



tfvpm $gohaq to (palitee. 253 

and then conieth harvest ? behold, I say unto you, 
Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields ; for they 
are white already to harvest." 9 

i "Rut I thought harvest didn't come till spring,' 
said Mabel. 

1 So thought the disciples — and were probably 
quite bewildered at their Master's words. They 
had hardly begun to think, I fancy, of the work 
they were to do with him : neither did they real- 
ize the mighty power of God, with whom one day 
is as a thousand years. They said — as often we 
do now — " Yet four months, and then cometh 
harvest." So much ploughing, so much planting, 
so much waiting, and then the return. At their 
feet lay the broad plain of el-Mukneh, winter- 
bound : the wheat not sown, the barley just start- 
ing, — all brown and bare, and shewing small sign 
of even the " blade " — much less of " the full corn 
in the ear : " harvest was four months away. And 
little as they saw of its golden glory in that wintry 
plain, still less could they even imagine that other 
harvest of which their Lord spoke. Only he who 
knoweth the end from the beginning, could watch 
the little band of despised Samaritans that now 
began to come straggling down the old Shechem 
valley, and even think of that glorious " fulness of 
the Gentiles " which should by and by come in. 
" White already," to the Lord's eyes, is many a 
field which we call barren/ 

6 But don't people have to wait ? ' said Cyril, — • 
* missionaries, and all thatv? I thought they just 
had to wait and work till the time came.' 



354 ^he $taq out of Jacob. 

'Wait and work? — yes/ said mamma, 'so 
they must. But sometimes I think the waiting 
gets more than its share ; and that if men believec 
more fervently the power and love of God, they 
might take their faith for a sickle instead of a 
plough, and go boldly forth into the barren fields 
and find them "white already," Then should it 
oftener be true than now : " A nation shall be born 
at once." " Concerning the work of my hands," 
said the Lord by his prophet, " command ye me : " 
it is a broad promise. 

1 " And he that reapeth receiveth wages " — tc 
him shall be given the " Well done," the " rest 
from his labours," the "recompense of the re- 
ward 5 " and besides, he " gathereth fruit unto life 
eternal." He does not go alone to his welcome on 
high, but the souls that he has gathered to Jesus 
on earth, shall be with him every one ; and over 
them shall Master and servant rejoice together. 
People talk of " new fields of labour " ' — said 
mamma, — i and I suppose in all that great field, 
the world, there is not one spot where good seed 
has not been sown ! God has wrought with men 
always, since the world began ; sending them 
prophets, sending them messengers, sending his 
Spirit into their hearts. And now when new 
workers go forth, and of a sudden the rose and the 
myrtle spring up where there were thorns and 
thistles before, still is the old word often true : ft I 
sent ye to reap" — " other men laboured and ye 
have entered into their labours." Burn away the 



$t[om $uchat] to f alilee. 366 

matted turf from any spot of ground/ lay open to 
the sunshine the muddy bed of any pond, and 
suddenly there will be a new crop of leaves and 
plants, unlike anything — it maybe — in all the 
region round about. Every soil is full of seed. 
Work for God need not always be so slow as men 
imagine ; and people do not need cold knowledge 
half so much as they want active warmth and air.' 

'Then there is something good in people's 
hearts/ said Mabel. 

i Good seed and native growth are two different 
things/ said mamma. ' " The heart is desperately 
wicked/' said a missionary, preaching in India: 
" and who can bring a clean thing out of an un- 
clean ? not one." Then up rose a wily Hindoo, 
and said smoothly : " Doth the lotus flower grow 
out of the mud ? " Now the lotus has an exqui- 
sitely fair and fragrant blossom, like our water lily, 
but its roots are planted far down in the dark bed 
of the river.' 

1 That was clever of the Hindoo/ said Cyril. 

'.Very clever, — but truth has no need to fear 
the cleverest things that can be said against her. 
" It is true " — answered the missionary, — " the 
lotus flower grows in the mud. But first there 
must be a good seed planted, and then the sun- 
shine must warm it, and the floods keep it moist ; 
and when at last the stem .springs up to the sur- 
face of the river, still the dew and the light must 
cherish and strengthen it, or there will be no fair 
blossom Even so must God's grace work upon 



356 {|>he $taq out of laoob, 

the good seed planted in any heart." A ad whiU 
he is the Great Husbandman, we his servmts may 
be under-gardeners and reapers, if we will/ 

' Mamma/ said Graeie, i when the turf is burnt 
off, as you say, are they flowers that spring up ? ' 

6 Not all,' said mamma. ( Rank weeds, and 
good plants run wild, and delicate blossoms. I 
have found a frail little garden flower in just 
such a new growth on cleared ground, far away 
from where any garden had been within my knowl- 
edge. Who planted it ? — who dropped the good 
seed in many a wild human plantation? No- 
body knows now ; but one day the sower and the 
reaper shall rejoice together, in the presence of 
Him who sent them all.' 

c The Samaritans were very ready to believe, I 
should think,' said Cyril, studying the verse. 

' Many of them were : many believed even at 
the saying of the woman, " he told me all that ever 
I did." And they came down to Jesus, and "be- 
sought him that he would tarry with them." 
They had asked favours of the Jews often before, 
but I fancy this was the first one that ever was 
granted : " He abode there two days." And his 
surprised disciples had almost as much to learn as 
the Samaritans themselves.' 

' I wish it was all written down ! ' said Grade, 
— 'that "word" at which "so many more be- 
lieved"!' 

'Yes, many more/ said mamma, 'And these 
not by hearsay, but they knew for themselvea 



Jftom $goUatj to (palilee. 357 

"We know/ 7 they said unto the woman, "that thii 
is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world," — 
u Not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. 

'Well I wish we knew whether Sychar w& 
Shechem/ said Mabel. 

' It has but little to do with the interest of thb 
story or of the scene, after all/ said mamma, 
* whether Sychar was Shechem — or only one of 
the daughters of Shechem. The old hills are the 
same, — Mt. Ebal spotted with the openings to its 
rock tombs, as if it might have been the necropolis 
of ancient Shechem ; and Gerizim, with every stone 
and ledge used as a terrace, and every foot of soil 
planted with figs and vines. And far up on the 
top of Gerizim are the Samaritan "holy places:" 
the old site of their temple ; the ground where year 
by year they kill and eat the passover lambs ; the 
broad, smooth slope of rock towards which they 
pray.' 

4 The people didn't change much then, after all/ 
said Cyril. 

'Not as a people. "Many believed" — but 
more it seems did not ; for the old hatred to the 
Jews, and the violent molesting of pilgrims, soon 
went on again after the former fashion. And in 
later times the Samaritans have been very hostile 
to the Christians at Nablous. They are a tall, 
handsome set of men, the few that are left now; 
living with greater strictness of forms than the 
Jews themselves, and intermarrying with no 
strai ge nation. You can distinguish them in a 



out of Jacob. 



eAt by their red turbans; while the Jewj 
green, and the Christians yellow, and the 
Moslems white.' 

c Mamma/ said Gracie, * how do you think the 
fields there look now, to the Lord's eye ? ' 

'Full of glory/ said mamma; 'for the day 
cometh when he " shall be gracious unto the rem- 
nant of Joseph/' and " Joseph shall have two por- 
tions/' and " shall inherit the land." Then, " when 
the Lord bringeth badk the captivity of his peo- 
ple, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad." 
" Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of 
the world with fruit." 

* Two days the Lord abode in Sychar, and then 
passed on into Galilee ; perhaps taking the road 
which goes direct through the hills from the plain 
of el-Mukneh ; although it has seemed to me more 
likely, from the words here, that he went the some- 
what longer route by Csesarea and the plain of 
Sharon. This road is good all the way — no small 
matter in Palestine winter travelling; and it 
comes out across the back of the Nazareth hills, 
without passing near the town itself : " For Jesus 
himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in 
his own country." But "the Galileans received 
him," — the people of the province generally, who 
h*d been up to the passover, and had seen the 
miracles which the Lord wrought there. It was 
eight months ago, now, but they had not forgotten 
the wonders of that time. " So Jesus came again 
into Cana of Galilee," which lay just on, or very 
near, this highway from Csesarea to the Lake/ 



f ijom $ychan to (palltee, 369 

1 The Lake of Gennesaret,' said Gracie. 

'Yes, or of Tiberias, — the Sea of Galilee. 
Down by its quiet shores, near twenty miles 
away from Cana, stood Capernaum, a, beautiful 
Eastern city. Unlike all cities in this part of the 
world, to look at; but like them all in the life- 
changes and trials, the heart-hopes and fears, that 
were hid away even within its palace gates. A 
nobleman dwelt there, — probably one of Herod's 
State officers, for the word signifies a servant of 
the king, — and the nobleman's son was sick. 
The father, I think, was one of those who had 
seen the Lord's miracles at Jerusalem ; yet in the 
strength of his prosperous life, gave little heed to 
the help that was laid on One so mighty. But 
now of a sudden all other help had failed ; and 
having heard that Jesus had returned from Judaea, 
he went at once to find him. " In their affliction," 
said the Lord, " they will seek me early " — or 
eagerly. No other messenger would do, he must 
go himself: "he went unto him, and besought 
him that he would come down, and heal his son : 
for he was at the point of death." 

6 Now however submissively we may ask for all 
other things, boldness is one of the first lessons we 
must learn, in coming to Jesus for his help : we 
must take no denial ; even if the Lord (as in this 
case) meet us first with a reproof. You, he said 
to the nobleman, believe only when you see won- 
ders : much as you thought of my miracles on the 
feast day. you have forgotten all about me eve? 



660 $he $ta« out of Jacob 



since. But the nobleman, with his whole heart 
fixed, seemed scarce to hear the Lord's cold an- 
swer : he attempted no excuse, he made no denial, 
but only repeated his cry for help. " Sir," he said, 
" come down ere my child die ! " ' 

6 1 think he was very bold indeed/ said Mabel. 
i He might have seen that the Lord didn't want to 
be troubled with him.' 

c But that is never true/ said mamma. 6 The 
Lord only wanted to draw out his faith, to have 
one life and death cry for help, and then it was 
instantly answered. The poor father himself was 
not in more haste than the pitying Saviour : there 
was not a moment lost. "Go thy way," said 
Jesus; *'thy son liveth." At once, now, already 
he is healed; for Jesus can always do for us 
abundantly, above all that we can ask or think. 
" Come down," the nobleman had said ; thinking 
that long hours must pass before the sick one could 
be relieved: but Jesus answered, It is done. 
" His word runneth very swiftly." 

* Children, you see in this story — and you will 
always find it true — that when one comes to 
Jesus with this sort of resolved boldness ; saying, 
with Jacob, " I will not let thee go except thou 
bless me ; " then there is always faith to receive the 
blessing. A half cry is followed by a half belief 
But he who letting go of everything else, 

" Ventures on Him — 
Ventures wholly," — 

has burned his whole shipload of doubts, W09 



%vpm $ttchatj to (palilee. 361 

derful were the words spoken to the noble of Caper- 
naum, but the man believed them all ; and obeyed 
as soon as he believed, " He went his way." Jesus 
did not go with him, as he had asked, but dis- 
missed him alone, with only his new-born faith — 
and that word which cannot be broken — for com- 
panions. So he went, — riding his mule along 
tne old plain of el-Biittauf ; with fears peeping out 
of every bush before him, yet hiding their faces 
as faith came trembling by. For faith will be a 
coward sometimes, and oftener before fear than 
before danger ; and not all the glory of the face 
of Jesus, could keep out of mind that poor dying 
face at Capernaum. 

4 But * the Lord knoweth our frame," — and will 
not let faith be tried a moment longer than it is 
able to bear. " As he was now going down," the 
nobleman saw men before him on the road, and 
presently knew them for his own servants. What 
had they come to tell him ? I think perhaps fa^th 
trembled very much, as the men drew near, ana 
laying each his hand upon his mouth, bowed almost 
to the ground before their master. And the noble- 
man, after the fashion of the East, greeted them 
gravely : " The Lord be with you ! " — but the 
servants answered : " The Lord bless thee ! Thy 
son liveth." ' 

'0 wasn't he glad ! ' cried Sue. ' And so am U 

4 It wasn't really any news to him, though/ said 
Mabel. 

4 The strongest faith is wonderfully glad to be 



362 $he $taq out of Jacob. 

proved right/ said mamma; 'and the nobleman, 
in his joy, did not forget his faith, but at once 
sought to strengthen and confirm it, going over the 
whole proof in detail. At what hour did he begin 
to amend ? he asked, — and they said unto him, 
" Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 
So the father knew that it was at the same hour 
in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth ; " 
and coming home, he told the wonder and the 
grace to all around him. " And himself believed, 
and his whole house." * 

c Well certainly that boy wasn't sick for noth- 
ing,' said Cyril. * But how was it " yesterday " — 
if Cana was so little way off? ' 

e Eighteen miles is a large half-day's journey ; 
and as it was already afternoon when he set out, 
and as the Jewish day ends at sundown, it must 
have been " yesterday " before he could well meet 
his servants. But also, the road across el-Buttauf 
is very wet and marshy in parts, at certain sea- 
sons ; and the travelling very slow and even dan- 
gerous. Mr. Thompson declares it was " the most 
nervous ride " he ever took, with the horses in 
mud and water up to the knees, and a treacherous 
quagmire on each side of a barely two-feet-wide 
path. So it may well be, that the Capernaum 
noble passed the night at some village on the road, 
and that it was early morning when his servants 
met him ; but we are not told.' 




e^pfei- 3E3EJH- 

BETHESDA. 

$$} so very glad to get to this chapter/ 
said Grace, as mamma opened her Bible 
at the fifth of John. 6 Now we shall hear 
all about the pool of Bethesda.' 

1 1 wish I could tell you all about it ! ' said mam- 
ma, — ' or indeed anything certain. But we will 
take the story first, in its simple Bible words : no 
human opinions can alter that. 

( " After this," — some time, longer or shorter, 
after the second going to Cana and the healing of 
the nobleman's son, — " there was a feast of the 
Jews ; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." ' 

1 Always a feast ! ' — said Cyril, — ' the Jews 
made a great deal of their feasts, I think.' 

6 There were three in the year of which they 
must make a great deal, — three for which every 
man must go up to Jerusalem : then there were 
various others of less importance. John is gen- 
erally so particular in telling the name of each 
feast, — "the Jews' feast of tabernacles," " the 
feast of the dedication," " the passover, a feast of 
the Jews," - — that many people have supposed this 



364 $h* $tat[ out of Jacob. 

nameless occasion was one of small importance. 
Others — because Jesus then went to Jerusalem — 
think that it was one of the three great feasts : the 
passover which came four months after he was in 
Samaria, or the feast of Pentecost, just seven weeks 
later still. But there was no law nor rule against 
going to the common feasts ; and for all that ap- 
pears, this may as well have been the feast of 
Purim, in March, as the passover in April : it was 
simply " a feast." 

i " Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep 
market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew 
tongue Bethesda, having five porches." There 
were many such pools . in and about Jerusalem in 
former times ; great open reservoirs, carefully built 
and lined with water cement, which the under- 
ground streams passed through and filled as they 
rambled on their way. For Jerusalem was rich 
in her secret water sources. Whatever the Greek 
name of this pool may have been, it was called in 
the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda — the house of 
mercy ; for it had five porches : five places of shel- 
ter from sun and from storm/ 

'I don't see how a pool could have porches/ 
said Cyril. 

f There is hardly a word told us about Bethesda 
which may not be understood in different ways/ 
said mamma; 'and so the very porches are de- 
batable things. One idea is, that they were open 
spaces between the pillars of a colonnade. But as 
the same Greek word is used elsewhere for Solo 



Bethe$<3a. 365 

mon's porch, wliich we know was a colonnade itself, 
the meaning seems rather that the pool lay — like 
the court of an Eastern house — surrounded with 
a flat-roofed corridor 5 five-sided perhaps, or having 
five deep aisles or archways of entrance. " Cloisters 
or colonnades round artificial tanks are common in 
the East." * " In these lay a great multitude of 
impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for 
the moving of the water." I am not sure that 
there are really more diseased persons in Eastern 
lands than in our own, but sure I am that one sees 
more of them. There, where people live out of 
doors, misery is not hid away as here ; and now by 
this broad swimming pool, or bath, lay a great 
multitude. Impotent folk — cripples with no pow- 
er in their limbs ; and withered — whose limbs 
had shrunk and perished from an accident, or from 
paralysis ; and halt, and blind. Blindness is fear- 
fully common in the East. The light soil, the 
white rocks, the cloudless glare of the sun, do ter- 
rible work. In Jaffa they say every tenth person 
is blind ; and other cities are yet worse off. And 
physicians are few there, and public charities 
almost unknown, except such a bath here and 
there as these open pools. But this pool was 
peculiar : the sufferers did not step in at once, but 
lay there waiting for the moving of the water. 
"For an angel went down at a certain season 
into the pool, and troubled the water." ' 
( I wonder what angel that was ! ? said Sue. 
♦Smith's Bible Dictionary. 






866 ^be $tai[ out of Jacob. 

'I wonder what he did to the water/ said Cyril 
' For it says that whoever stepped right in after 
that, was cured. Do you suppose they saw hirn ? ' 

1 No, I suppose they saw only the troubled — or 
disturbed — water/ said mamma. 

* But then/ said Mabel, c how did they know it 
was an angel ? ? 

i People had seen angels so often in those days/ 
said mamma, — 'had seen them work out God's 
various purposes of love or of judgment, — that 
they really believed in that constant employment 
of angels in earthly matters, which in these days 
men forget or lose sight of. For their ministry is 
just as real, although now it is invisible. In the 
old times it was sometimes visible, sometimes not. 
The destroying angel went silently and unseen 
through Egypt at the dead of night, to slay all 
the first born; but David saw the angel that 
smote Jerusalem with pestilence — saw him with 
his drawn sword in his hand. So Elijah probably 
saw the angel that brought him food and touched 
him on the shoulder, bidding him arise and eat; 
but I suppose it was not till the morning dawned, 
that Daniel knew of a surety that God had sent 
his angel and shut the mouths of the lions — 
taken away their power or their will to do him 
mischief. Zechariah saw the angel that talked 
with him go forth, and another angel went out to 
meet him, bringing a new message/ 

i And is all that — are all such things — really 
true now?' said Mabel. 



Bethesda. 367 

'Ay, and will be while the world stands/ said 
mamma. c " The chariots of God are thousands of 
angels," — bearing his power, his blessing, and 
his care, to the ends of the earth ! 

' An angel at certain seasons disturbed the 
waters of the pool ; and then whoever stepped in 
first was made whole. Among the people that 
lay there waiting, was one who had been a cripple 
for near forty years. He " had an infirmity " — 
perhaps like that of the man whom the apostles 
healed at the Beautiful gate ; a weakness of the 
feet and ankles, so that he could not move at all — 
or but very slowly — without help. His friends 
or neighbours had brought him to Bethesda, I sup- 
pose, and left him in one of the porches. He was 
out of the way there, and safe ; and if he could 
but work himself along into the water, might get 
cured. They had done all that could possibly be 
expected of them. Not so thought Jesus. He 
looked at the man's patient face, his helpless atti- 
tude, and knew how long he had been "in that 
case ; " and then spoke to him the very words that 
now he says to many a sin-bound sufferer. " Wilt 
thou be made whole ? " he said : Are you will- 
ing ? do you desire it ? The poor cripple meekly 
answered him with the difficulties of his case. 
" Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, 
to put me into the pool : ,; I am ready, but help- 
less ; " while I am coming, another steppeth down 
before me," and the chance is lost. Is that all ? 
the Lord answered him, — ready and willing but 






368 $he $tat| out of laoob 

very weak ? Know then that I am strong : " Kise, 
take up thy bed, and walk." 

' " He that has no helper," is one of the Lord'g 
chosen ones/ said mamma, her voice faltering a 
little. 6 The man, with his eyes fixed upon that 
look of pity, his ears drinking in the music of 
that voice, just gave himself up to him who is 
-, mighty to save. With the command went forth 
the power, and was received by the poor cripple as 
he obeyed. Such words from any other lips would 
have been mere mockery, — " rise up and walk," to 
one for forty years scarce able to creep. But with 
his eyes fixed upon Jesus, the man forgot himself, 
— and all things are possible to one that so be- 
lieveth. "Immediately he was made whole, and 
took up his bed, and walked." ; 

'Well he must have been strong/ said Sue, 'to 
carry his bed ! J 

6 It was a very light one/ said mamma. i Pales- 
tine beds are generally nothing more than very 
thin mattresses, or very thick quilts, spread upon 
the floor. The rich pile several together, but the 
poor use only one, and often only a mere mat: 
these beds are rolled up and put aside in the day. 
Such a bed a well man can walk off with easily 
enough. The cripple here rose up at once, in the 
power of his faith and of the Lord's grace, and 
rolling or folding together the mat on which he 
had lain so long, he left those sorrowful porches of 
Bethesda, and with a light foot mounted the hill 
and entered the streets of Jerusalem.' 



1 Mamma, how could he leave Jesus so soon ? 9 
eaid Gracie. 

' Jesus was not there, — it tells afterwards that 
he " had conveyed himself away, a multitude being 
in that place," — he did not see fit then to stop 
and heal them all, as he did many another time. 
And the cripple may have thought it was the 
angel of the pool himself who had appeared to heal 
him, and then vanished so suddenly out of sight. 
So with his bed upon his shoulder, he went with a 
glad, free step along the city streets ; " and on the 
same day was the sabbath." Then said the Jews 
who met him, " It is the sabbath day : it is not 
lawful for thee to carry thy bed." For the old law 
about keeping the sabbath was very strict ; and to 
the wise and blessed regulations given by Moses, 
the Jews had added new ones of their own; ob- 
serving them all, not in the spirit of love and obe- 
dience, but of self-righteous pride. And now they 
had no eyes nor ears for the miracle which had 
been wrought, nor stopped to find out whether the 
man was merely on his way home, but brought 
their charge unqualifiedly : It is not lawful. 

' The cripple, on his part, disputed not the law, 
but gave the authority which had for once set it 
aside : " He that made me whole, the same said 
unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk." And he 
himself had no more thought of questioning than 
he had of disobeying. Then said the Jews, some- 
what seoffingly, u What man is that which said 
unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk ? " But the 
24 






370 $he $ten out of Jacob, 

cured one could not tell thein : Jesus had vanished 
from his eyes. He went on to his home — or some 
place where he could leave his bed, and then went 
into the temple to offer his thanks : for he knew 
that every good thing came from the hand of God, 
by whatever other hand it might have come to him. 
He was probably too poor to offer the sacrifice of 
thanksgiving according to the law, — a man not 
rich enough to hire some one to put him into the 
healing waters of the pool, could hardly find money 
on a sudden to buy a sheep, and fine flour, and oil, 

— but he went to hear and join in the public 
praises of God, and to see the evening sacrifice laid 
on the altar, and to hear the sounding of the silver 
trumpets of joy. And standing there, suddenly 
he heard again that voice which had made him 
whole ; speaking words of counsel now, of grave 
warning, " Behold, thou art made whole," it said, 

— look at the goodness of God, think of it, study 
it, — then take heed : " sin no more, lest a worse 
thing come unto thee." ' 

6 What could be worse ? ' said Mabel. 

'The consequences of slighting God's mercy,' 
said mamma. ' Better to lie a lifetime by the pool 
of Bethesda, waiting to be healed and always disap- 
pointed, than to use recovered life and health and 
strength in any way but the service of him who 
gave them all. The man made no answer, that we 
are told, — perhaps had a half thought still that it 
was an angel, — but as he left the temple he point- 
ed out his wondrous physician to the people who 



Betheeda. 371 

stood by, and learned his name. " And therefore 
did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay 
hini, because he had done these things on the sab- 
bath-day." If any one of the Lord's followers ever 
thinks it a strange thing to be "persecuted for 
righteousness' sake," ' added mamma, i he would do 
well to study these words.' 

1 " Such things n V — Gracie repeated. ''Why 
no one but Jesus could do such things ! ' 

i No one ; but it was specially because they were 
done on the sabbath, that the Jews made a clam- 
our; for that self-righteousness which dwells in 
the border of a garment, the name of a day, or the 
name of a church, had need to keep up all its de- 
fences. The Jews settled with themselves that 
they would kill him, and perhaps even then made 
threatening demonstrations; but Jesus answered 
with a calm assertion of his authority, his right to 
rule. " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 

— " Who can say unto him, What doest thou ? " 

— " His work is perfect " ! ' 

i I wish we knew where the pool was,' said Ma- 
bel. 

c I think there is hardly a pool in or about Jeru- 
salem, which is not called (by somebody) the pool 
of Bethesda. No one knows where it was, — no 
one can say certainly that it is not even now hid- 
den beneath the ruins of the old city ; but I will 
tell you what different people think.' 

* Where is the sheep market ? ' asked Cyril. 

1 Passed away with other things of that old 



372 $he $taq out of Jacob* 

time. You notice that the word " market " is in 
italics, — a sign that it was supplied by the trans- 
lators of our English Bible. Other learned men 
say the word should be " gate/"' or " pool ; " but the 
Greek text says only, "by the sheep." It may 
have been the gate where the flocks for the temple 
sacrifices were brought in ; it may have been the 
enclosure where they were penned ; or even that 
" pool of the sheepskins n mentioned in ITehemiah, 
where the fleeces taken off in the temple were 
washed. Somewhere — near some one of these 
— was a pool ; and every traveller to Jerusalem 
makes new search for it in vain. Some think it 
lay near what is now called St. Stephen's gate, on 
the north side of the city, ■ — forming part of the 
great Birket Israel — a fosse or reservoir that is 
seventy-five feet deep and three hundred and sixty 
feet long. Dr. Barclay believes it hid under " the 
immense banks of rubbish " that are piled up 
close by the spot where the temple once stood. 
Dr. Kobinson chooses the Fountain of the Virgin ; 
a little cave-pool, twenty feet down in the rock of 
Ophel, where one would say a " multitude " could 
scarce have found even standing room. " It may 
well be doubted," says Dr. Porter, " whether this 
fountain or the Pool of Siloam farther down is the 
true Bethesda ; " and of all visible sites, Siloam 
seems the most probable to me, where the waters 
of the fountain of the Virgin flow out and find 
ampler room. It stands lower down the hill, yet 
was " doubtless once within the city walls ; " and 



Jfethesda. 373 

its Greek name of Siloam interferes not at all 
with its being "called in the Hebrew tongue 
Bethesda." The water is sweet tasted, slightly 
brackish at times ; and according to some authori- 
ties varies in flavour at different times of year. It 
is of great fame still as a pool of healing and (ac- 
cording to some old writers) had once the same 
irregular flow that is found still at the upper foun- 
tain.' 

'That is the Fountain of the Virgin V asked 
Grade. 

'Yes, — the Dragon's fount, as the Arabs call 
it. They think a dragon lives at the fountain 
head, and that when he lies down to sleep the 
waters are shut off; but when he rouses up and 
goes away on an excursion, then they flow again. 
For the flow is most irregularly irregular. Some- 
times for a day or two the basin will be almost 
dry ; and then on a sudden up comes the water, — 
gurgling out from under the steps, covering in a 
moment any foot that may stand there, and mak- 
ing a perceptible wave all across the basin. Then 
in fifteen minutes more it is all quiet and low 
again, and the water after rising ten or twelve 
inches, sinks down to its old level, flowing off by the 
underground channel to Siloam. Sometimes this 
happens two or three times a day, sometimes once 
in two or three days, or at longer intervals yet. 
There is a stone-built dam at the end of Siloam 
now, which prevents this irregular tide from be- 
ing perceived there, but in former days, the water 



374 t$hz $ten out of Jacob, 

rushed down through the narrow winding passage 
from the Virgin's fount, and brought its noise and 
stir even into Siloam's quiet pool. And some 
people have thought/ added mamma, 'that this 
was the "troubling" of the water, spoken of by 
John. Not, as others charge, to get rid of the 
miracle, or of the angel's work; but merely sup- 
posing that the angel who had care of that par- 
ticular spring, did at certain times direct a flow 
of healing water — from some mineral spring, per- 
haps — into the fountain, and thence to the pool. 
But as the flow lasted but a very few minutes, the 
strong virtue of the water was soon diluted and 
lost; and thus it was only he who first stepped 
in that was healed.' 

1 Mamma/ said Sue, ' does every spring have an 
angel ? ' 

6 1 cannot tell you much about angels/ said 
mamma smiling. ( John, in the Revelation, tells of 
" the angel of the waters," as well as of the one 
" standing in the sun," and the other "flying in the 
midst of heaven ; " and for aught I know, every 
part of the world may be under the care and ruler- 
ship of angels: they may be the Lord's under- 
governors.' 

' But does any mineral spring heal all diseases ? 9 
said Mabel. 

1 Not all diseases were there to be healed ; the 
people were all " impotent folk " — cripples. How- 
ever, we cannot decide these difficult questions 
without more discoveries in Jerusalem, and more 



Bethesda. 375 

knowledge than we shall maybe ever have in this 
world. Intermitting springs are found here and 
there, in other places ; and so are healing springs, 
and angels are at work around us all the time. 
And though we may never know just where this 
one poor cripple lay, when the Lord made him 
whole ; we are sure that every day and in every 
place the sick, the weak, the broken-hearted may 
come to Jesus and be healed ; for he is the same, 
i( yesterday, to-day, and forever." ; 




THE KING AND HIS HERALD. 

$$$$/ said little Sue, < I thought God 
never did anything ? ' 
i Sue ! * said Gracie. 
'Well I did/ said Sue. < Because it 
says in the first chapter of Genesis — no. it's the 
second chapter — that when the world was all 
finished God rested.' 

6 He rested from the work of creation, — that 
was ended, for our world/ said mamma ; f but not 
his work of care and of mercy. You cannot look 
at a thing, Sue, but tells of God's work ; you can- 
not live an hour without feeling it; you cannot 
even read a common newspaper without finding 
proofs of it in a thousand ways.' 

6 In the paper ? ' said Mabel. 

1 Mamma/ said Sue, c please begin with what 
the things tell that we look at.' 

' They all tell of his work of creation,' said Cy- 
ril, i but how of any other, mamma ? ' 

' When our neighbour built his sawmill in the 
valley/ said mamma, 'and it was all completely 
finished, what did he do then ? ' 



$he King and his $et[ald, 377 

'Why he began to use it/ said Cyril. { I 
see ! ' — 

' And how did he begin to use it ? — did he just 
set the mill in motion and then leave it to itself ? 

1 No indeed/ said Cyril, ( pretty work thab would 
have made ! He watched it all the time. There 
was first the right log to choose and put in place, 
and then to get the right thickness for the board, 
and then to let on the water and set the saw going, 
and then to stop it all at just the right minute.' 

6 All true/ said our mother ; ' and what a man 
does in h'.s imperfect way with a machine, that 
God does with the universe : but his rule is per- 
fect, — absolute in power, wonderful in working. 
It is unseen, — "I look on the left hand where he 
doth work, but I cannot behold him ; " it is un- 
ceasing, and beyond and above all human compre- 
hension. " When I applied my heart to know wis- 
dom, and to see the business that is done upon the 
earth, then I beheld the work of God, that a man 
cannot find out the work that is done under the 
sun : because though a man labour to seek it out, 
yet he shall not find it ; yea, farther ; though a 
wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able 
to find it." And he who wrote that, was the wisest 
man that ever lived. u Man goeth forth unto his 
work until the evening/' — but "there is that 
neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes." 
" My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." ' 

i But how ? ' said Cyril. i Tell us some of the 
ways, mamma, please.' 



378 $he $tatj out of laoob. 

6 In every way. u He sendeth the springs into 
the valleys," a he maketh grass to grow upon the 
mountains ; " the cedars of Lebanon are of his 
planting. He forms the light, — he makes dark- 
ness, and it is night. He thundereth marvellously 
with his voice, he directeth his lightnings unto the 
ends of the earth. By the breath of God frost is 
given, and he saith unto the snow, Be thou on the 
earth ; likewise to the small rain, and to the great 
rain of hit strength. He stayeth the proud waves. 
The clouds are turned about by his counsels, he 
quieteth the earth by his south wind, " he casteth 
forth his ice by morsels : who can stand before his 
cold?"' 

'And then, mamma?' said Gracie, — the chil- 
dren all listened eagerly. 

6 Then, he upholdeth all things by the word of 
his power. The hawk flies by his wisdom, the 
young lions seek their prey from God. " The eyes 
of all wait u^on thee, and thou givest them their 
meat in due season ; that thou givest them they 
gather." Even in the wilderness where no man 
is, God causeth it to rain, " to satisfy the desolate 
and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the 
tender herb to spring forth." " Canst thou guide 
Arcturus ? " said the Lord to Job. " Canst thou 
lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of 
water may cover the earth? Canst thou send 
lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, 
Here we are ? Who can stay the bottles of 
heaven ? — Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion ? 



(£he King an£ h5$ ^qaM, 379 

Who provideth for the raven his food?" — and 
Joh answered : u I know that thou canst do every- 
thing." > 

'Now, mamma, tell about us 9 said Sue. 

'It is all as true for us, as for the smallest blade 
of grass or the brightest star/ answered our 
mother; l "in him we live and move ; 9} "he giveth 
to all men life and breath and all things." He 
maketh herbs to grow for the service of man, and 
the year is crowned with his goodness. He send 
eth forth his breath — we are created ; he turneth 
man to destruction. "I kill and I make alive," 
said the Lord ; " I wound and I heal." " I form 
the light and create darkness, I make peace and 
create evil." He leadeth his people like a flock, 
they are guided by the skilfulness of his hands. 
In every least thing of their lives, as in the greatest, 
this is true. For their sakes " he maketh the storm 
a calm ; " " he upholdeth those that fall ; " the 
Lord looseth the prisoners, he relieveth the father- 
less and the widow ; the poor crieth unto him, and 
he that hath no helper: his tender mercies are over 
all his works. The preparation of a Christian's 
heart, the answer of his tongue, is from the Lord : 
he may plan out his way, but the Lord directeth 
his steps. " Except the Lord build the house, they 
labour in vain that build it ; except the Lord keep 
the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." " He 
putteth down one and setteth up another ; " " he 
giveth power to get wealth ; " the whole disposing 
of each lot is of the Jjor4* "Ho witbdr&weth 






880 



t$he $taq out of Jacob. 






man from his purpose ; " u he instructs him to dis- 
cretion ; " " who teacheth like Him ? " 

'And as in all these private, personal affairs, 
so with those that are public and national. The 
heart of kings, as of other men, is in his hand : 
he bringeth counsel to nought, he breaks in pieces 
mighty men without number and sets others in 
their stead : he ruleth by his power forever. He 
makes peace ; in war it is he who " takes off the 
chariot wheels " and overwhelms the army : and 
a king is not saved by the multitude of an 
host, for " there is no restraint to the Lord to save 
by many or by few." By him kings reign: "I 
chose David," he says of one, — - " I girded thee, 
though thou hast not known me," he says to an- 
other ; and always and ever, " He will work, and 
who shall let it ? " " His counsel shall stand, and 
he will do all his pleasure." Every good gift, of 
mind or life or circumstance, comes from him ; but 
also, " Shall there be evil " — that is grief, judg- 
ment, discipline — " in the city, and the Lord 
hath not done it ? " " My Father worketh hith- 
erto," said Jesus, " and I work." 

'The Jews, well read in the Scriptures, under- 
stood these words at once; and knew that they 
were an assertion of divine right and power. But 
that mystery of God in which simple faith can 
rest, is a mere stumbling block to rebellion and 
unbelief. There is no one point for which so many 
have refused Jesus as this, — that he made hin> 
self equal with God, Tell a Jerusalem Jew now 



$he King ami W$ $et[al& 381 

that Jesus was divine, and often he will drown 
your words, crying out " The Lord our God is one 
Lord ! " And multitudes more, in other lands, 
both Jews and Gentiles, who acknowledge the 
prophet, the righteous man, refuse " Immanuel ; 
God with us." 

'In answer, the Lord went on to declare unto 
them something of that mystery which they dis- 
dained, — the separate divine persons, the one 
God : telling first the oneness, and then the per- 
sonal distinctness, and then the equality, and then 
again the oneness : thus beginning and ending as 
it were with their own watchword, " The Lord our 
God is one Lord." 

'He is one: "The Son can do nothing of him- 
self" — " but what things soever the Father doeth, 
these also doeth the Son likewise;" and yet are 
these two not the same ; for in human affairs the 
Son is invested with supreme authority. The Fa- 
ther hath given all things into his hand. Equal 
in power, he raiseth the dead ; while by him shall 
all men be judged at the last day. " God is judge 
himself/' said the Psalmist, speaking beforetime 
of that day: "He cometh to judge the earth." 
There could be but one meaning to these words 
of Jesus : the Father u hath committed all judg- 
ment unto the Son ; that all men should honour the 
Son even as they honour the Father." Yet God 
had declared long before, " My glory will I not 
give to another," — therefore this was not another, 
but was one with himself; for " he that honoureth 



382 



t$ht $taq out of Jacob. 




not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath 
sent hhn." And the hour is coming, said the 
Lord, when you shall know my divine power ; for 
the dead shall hear my voice. Even now at my 
command disease takes its flight, and the dead in 
sin are made alive unto God. I am one with him. 
It will be my voice that shall arouse the sleepers, 
at the last day, and mine that shall have authority 
to pass judgment on them all : calling some to the 
resurrection of life eternal, and some to that of 
eternal death. A just judgment, — according to 
the will of the Father, with whom I am one. 

i If you take not my word for all this, — a man's 
evidence for himself is not always accepted, — 
there is other proof, and other witnesses. " Ye 
sent unto John, and he hare witness unto the 
truth." I need no such testimony — but I remind 
you of it for your own sakes. A greater witness 
tells who I am : even the works that I do ; " and 
the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath 
borne witness of me." Through me has been 
every manifestation of him/ 

i It was strange they did not believe, then,' said 
Gracie. 

' The Lord went on to tell them why they did 
not, — what were the real difficulties in the way. 
For then as now, want of proof, and doubts about 
mysteries, and all such things, are but like sham 
earthworks, mounted with Quaker guns. The real 
fort of resistance lies far within : "men love dark- 
ness rather than light" It is the light — not the 



^he King and his $etjald. 383 

mystery — against which they wage war. You 
boast of the strictness with which you keep the 
law of God, said Jesus to his scowling listeners, 
but his word does not abide in your hearts : you 
neither know nor love it, — or you would believe 
in me. " Search the Scriptures," — study again 
those hooks of the law and the prophets of which 
you talk so much ; for it is those very writings that 
testify of me. And yet, u Ye will* not come unto 
me that ye might have life," — for life is their por- 
tion who hear my word. I need no honour, as I 
need no testimony, from men ; but I know that 
you fail to give it, only because the love of God is 
not in you. It is because I come in the name of 
the Lord, that you do not receive me. But let 
another come in his own name, working and 
speaking for his own sake, and you will listen to 
him. How can you believe — having no eyes for 
any but worldly honour ? And the charge against 
you will come from that very Moses in whom you 
trust. If you believed his words, you would have 
received me ; " for he wrote of me." He wrote 
that the seed of the woman should bruise the ser- 
pent's head; that the Lord should raise up a Pro- 
phet from the midst of you, whom ye should hear : 
he told of the Star out of Jacob, of the Angel of 
the Covenant. " But if ye believe not his writings, 
» how shall ye believe my words ?" 

'They had the proof in their own hands, the 
knowledge was within their reach/ 



S84 



$ho $tatj out of Jacob, 



( What made the Lord say John was a light ? f 
said Cyril. ' John wasn't dead yet, was he ? * 

' John's light shone no more in public. It is 
only " the lamp of the wicked " which " is put out 
in obscure darkness," and John was drawing nearer 
to the perfect day ; but it was within the walls of - 
a prison. And this was the cause. Herod Anti- 
pas, son of the first Herod, and tetrarch of Galilee, 
had married the daughter of Aretas, king of Ara- 
bia ; while his half brother, Herod Philip, had 
married Herodias, his own niece. But after a 
while, when Herod had been staying at his broth- 
er's castle, Herodias agreed to leave Philip and 
come to live with him ; which she did.' 

6 What became of the other wife ? ' said Mabel. 

* The daughter of Aretas ? — she heard of this 
new arrangement, and fled away, and went home 
to her father; and Aretas afterwards made war 
upon Herod, to avenge his daughter's wrong. 
Such was the state of things, while John went up 
and down, preaching the baptism of repentance. 
At one of his riverside sermons, Herod himself was 
present : so it seems, from the words in Luke ; per- 
haps commanding those very soldiers who came to 
John, saying, And what shall we do ? And John, 
" bold as a lion," told Herod very frankly what he 
should do, speaking at once of Herodias, and say- 
ing, " It is not lawful for thee to have her." Herod 
doubtless was very angry ; and would perhaps have 
put John to death on the spot, but " he feared the 
multitude, because they counted him a prophet ; " 



$ho King and bi$ $o*ialii 385 

and even tyrants must regard the multitude some- 
times. Herod pocketed his wrath, and went his 
own way, leaving John to go his. And by and by, 
ihere came upon the wicked king a sort of awe and 
liking for the fearless preacher, " knowing that he 
was a just man and a holy." He even tried to 
bring about a good understanding between John 
and his own conscience ; " he heard him gladly " 
— truth was quite a refreshing novelty at Herod's 
court — and even " did many things " at his bid- 
ding. But if Herod's conscience was pacified, so 
was not the anger of Herodias, — she never forgave 
John for his words about her j and she fumed and 
teased and worried Herod, — until at last, tired 
out, against his own better feeling, "Herod sent 
forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in 
prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's 
wife." To " all the ovils he had done," Herod 
" added yet this above all, that he shut up John in 
prison." ' 

* That's what his hearing him gladly was worth/ 
laid Cyril. 

' That is the way a great many people enjoy 
stirring sermons, said mamma : ' they are a variety. 
A.nd the " many tmngs " which people do in conse- 
quunce, serve as a sort of salve to an uneasy con- 
science; healing the wound "slightly." John had 
been " valiant for the truth," and now he was to 
be " faithful unto death," and then to receive his 
crown. The light which had burned and shone so 
long for God was sinking down behind the dark 
25 



386 ^he $tat| out of Jacob* 

outlines of the world, its work all done ; for high 
and clear and bright rode now "the Star out 
of Jacob," — that "true Light," to which John 
came for a witness : and the shadows began to flee 
away.' 



NO TBS, 



Note I. Bethlehem — The Manger. -— Since my 
last sheets of copy went to the printer, I have with won- 
derful pleasure found evidence to support my decision of 
at least one vexed point — the manger at Bethlehem. I 
had studied and thought it out, until certainly if I was 
not tired of the subject, the subject had tired me ; and 
now just as the volume is out of my hands, comes new 
evidence, from Young's new translation " according to 
the letter and idioms of the original languages." I need 
but put the two versions side by side, to shew how they 
explain each other. 

" She brought forth her first born son, and wrapped 
him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; be- 
cause there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 
2: 7. 

"She brought forth her son — the first born, and 
wrapped him up, and laid him down in the manger [lit. 
laid him up or back in the feeding-place] because there 
was not to them a place in the guest-chamber [lit place 
of * loosing down their baggage']." Luke 2 : 7. — Young's 
Trans. 

I should add, that the two sentences in brackets, are 
from Young's " Companion " to his own work. 

Note IL Bethlehem — David's Well. — As I 
have (perhaps needlessly for this volume) touched upon 



388 $ote$. 

David's well, 1 must give the grounds of my assertion 
that the well is still there. And first, on the other si<i* 
from Dr. Robinson. 

" We were able to find no well at Bethlehem, except 
one connected with the aqueduct on the south. * * 
That to which the monks give the name of the ' Well of 
David,' is about half or three quarters of a mile N. by E. 
of Bethlehem, beyond the deep valley which the village 
overlooks ; it is merely a deep and wide cistern or cav- 
ern now dry, with three or four narrow openings cut in 
the rock. * * They assured us, that there is no well 
of living water in or near the town." — Bib, Researches, 
I 470, 473. 

"About a quarter of a mile north of the gate of the 
modern village is a ' well,' which is now pointed out as 
that for whose waters David longed when in the * hold ' 
of Adullam. It is a cistern, as the Hebrew word would 
seem to indicate." — J. L. Porter, in Bib. Cy. i. 354. 

" It is in a rude enclosure, and consists of a large cis- 
tern with several small apertures. It bears marks about 
it of having been long in use ; and its position seems per 
fectly to agree with the sacred narrative. * * The 
word used to express it in the original Hebrew is not 
a fountain, but corresponding with the Arabic burah, a 
pit or cisterr.." -— Dr. Wilson's Lands of the Bible, 
l. 399. 

" A fountain round which a bevy of the Bethlehemite 
maidens may be seen congregated at most hours of the 
day." — Stewart, Tent and Khau, p 333. 

" About half a mile from it (the town), and at the top 
of the opposite slope, a road leads to the left. Into this 
we first turned aside. At the corner where the roads 
meet, there is a garden or orchard, chiefly planted with 



Eotes. 381 

fig tiees. This, tradition says, was the farm of Jesse, the 
father of David. Close by this there is a field where 
there is a very old well, and where the ruins of some old 
town are observable under the surface." — Bonar's Land 
of Promise, p. 112. 

"It is the supply of water and the well that decide the 
site of an Eastern city ; and while the walls and even 
the whole position of the place, as at Nazareth, may be 
changed, the fountain and the well can never move." 
— Trisi* \m's Land of Israel, p. 148. 

Note II Bethlehem — The Massacre. — The 
precise number of children slain depends of course not 
merely upon the population at that time, but also upon 
how far Herod's executioners knew and carried out the 
king's intent to slay merely all the hoys. The following 
bits of history may be of interest in this connection. 

" It has been too often the cruel policy of despots of 
the East to consolidate the foundations of their thrones 
by the slaughter of all who had claim or power to dis- 
pute their authority. Jehu furnishes an example. The 
history of Abyssinia also records an instance of a tyrant 
ordering the destruction of nearly 400 children ; and an 
eminent writer quotes the case of a king of Pegu who 
fancied that a nephew's claim to the throne would inter- 
fere with his plans, and therefore he sought to kill the 
child ; and when he discovered that the youth was secret- 
ed by some of his nobles, he commanded that all the 
children of the grandees, these children amounting to 
about 4,000, should be put to death — a massacre much 
more terrible than that committed by the enraged King 
of the Jews. Herod's cruel spirit appears to have de- 
scended to his son, for we are told that he put 3,000 of 
th« leading persons in the nation to death, in order that 



390 %te$. 

he might punish some supposed offence." — Sunday School 
World, September, 1864. 

Note IV. Sychar. — "A village like Askar answers 
much more appropriately to the casual description of 
St. John, than so large and venerable a place as She- 
chem." — Smith's Bible Dictionary. 

" If we admit the identity of the present well of Jacob 
with that mentioned by John, there can be but little 
doubt that Sychar was a small Samaritan town not far 
from that spot. — Thomson's Land and the Book, ii. 206. 

" The form of expression is somewhat peculiar. It 
would seem to convey the idea that the city was an ob- 
scure one, or else that, while Sychar was its popular 
name, it had another. The common opinion is that 
Sychar is only another name for the better known Sy- 
chem or Shechem." 

" But the well is a mile and a half from the site of 
Shechem, now N&bulus ; and the question arises — If Sy- 
char and Shechem were identical, could it be described 
as near the well, while at such a distance. The word is 
indefinite. It is difficult to say what distance would be 
called * near.' " 

" The testimony of ancient geographers does not tend 
to remove the difficulty. Eusebius writes : * Sychar, be- 
fore Neapolis.'" 

" According to the Bordeaux Pilgrim, who travelled 
ir A. d. 333, by Neapolis, at the base of the mountain, 
rood Sichem, beside Joseph's monument — and a thou- 
sand paces farther was Sychar " — J. L. Porter, in Bib. 
Cy. 

While Dr. Robinson says — " It is hardly necessary to 
remark upon the confusion and inconsistency of all this.* 
— Bib. Be.,ii. 291. 



T$ote$. 391 

Many more opinions, for and against, might be given, 
but these are enough. 

Note F. The Pinnacle op the Temple. — No 

view taken now of the valley of Jehoshaphat can give 
more than a faint idea of the old sheer depth of descent. 
The walls surrounding the Turkish mosque have nothing 
of the height of the old Temple porch ; and the valley 
itself is filled up with rubbish. The workers under the 
English " Palestine Exploration Fund " have already be- 
gun their researches along the southern front of Mt. 
Moriah, bringing strange things to light. " Shafts and 
galleries have been driven through the mass of rubbish 
which covers the base of the Temple rock, and have re- 
vealed the enormous depth to which it has accumulated. 
Through the debris, the cyclopean walls supporting the 
Temple have been traced to a depth varying from 60 to 
90 feet, and the wall itself has been shown to have 
reached at this point a height of from 170 to 180 feet; 
a curious justification of a passage in Josephus, in which 
he describes the dizziness with which the spectator looked 
down into the valley beneath. • 

* * * Thirty feet below the vaults which have been 
known to exist at its south-eastern corner, a passage has 
now been found leading into the solid substance of the 
wall and indicating probably large sub-structures."— 
Saturday Review, in LUteWs Living Age, No. 1231. 



